Sony Corp's Edy electronic money system will be used by UFJ Holdings Inc and six other consumer finance companies to boost credit card use, according to the system's developer, Sony subsidiary BitWallet Inc.
UFJ, Japan's fourth-biggest lender, along with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Sony Finance International Co, Life Co, DC Card Co and Kokunai Shinpan Co will adopt the Edy function into new or existing cards by the end of March 2004, BitWallet spokesman Makoto Yamada said.
Edy cards are already sold and accepted at some convenience stores. Users pay to add value to the cards, which are fitted with a microchip to store balance information. The finance companies hope adding the prepaid option to their cards will attract customers and boost overall use, including paying with credit.
"They can boost convenience for their credit card users by offering another way of payment," said Minoru Hattori, an analyst at Okasan Securities Co. "They don't have to do anything extra by adding Edy to their cards."
Sony already supplies its electronic card technology for prepaid, or stored-value smart cards to East Japan Railway Co for travel payments, and has delivered 12 million FeliCa smart cards to Octopus Cards Ltd in Hong Kong, a company controlled by the government-owned subway operator MTR Corp and four other transport operators. The popular Octopus cards are used for travel and retail payments. FeliCa cards are also used in Singapore for travel, according to Sony's Web site.
BitWallet was established in January 2001 by Sony and other investors, including NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan's biggest mobile phone services company, to develop and manage the Edy prepaid smart card system. Sony group companies own 46 percent of BitWallet, while NTT DoCoMo has 14.7 percent. Sumitomo Mitsui group companies also own 11.9 percent.
BitWallet said last November it aims to have 8.5 million cards and 23,000 customers by March 2004.
UFJ Card Co, a unit of UFJ Holdings, will issue the so-called stored-value smart cards to about 600 employees in Tokyo in November, said Masaya Mizutani, planning section chief at the company.
UFJ Card, which has 8.6 million of cardholders in Japan, is aiming to draw new users by adding value to its credit cards, Mizutani said.
"Charming customers by improving cards functions is the most significant to get new cardholders," Mizutani said.
Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co also plans to offer the Edy feature on its credit cards, company spokesman Hiroyasu Tomita said. That Edy is already in use boosted its attractiveness, he said.
"Sony's Edy system already has an infrastructure," Tomita said. "In that sense, it may be the most influential in the market."
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS