Five major Taiwanese banks expect to receive approval from regulators that will allow them to issue mobile credit cards for use in NFC phones.
An NFC launch supported by MasterCard PayPass is expected by at least one of the country’s leading banks and Taiwan’s largest telco, Chunghwa Telecom.
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Cathay United is expected to launch NFC payments first, having participated in trials of NFC and bridge technologies with Chunghwa Telecom.
According to an official with Taiwan’s banking regulator, the Financial Supervisory Commission, four other Taiwanese banks, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Taishin International Bank, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank and E.Sun Commercial Bank, are also awaiting approval to launch credit cards on NFC SIMs.
Furthermore, Chunghwa Telecom has already been certified by MasterCard to download and manage the PayPass app on NFC phones.
The banks, along with Chunghwa Telecom, will also launch QR-code based mobile payments for e-commerce, as well as transactions in convenience stores and restaurants by scanning a code at the point of sale. A trial using a third-party payments platform for the QR code transactions is expected next month.
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By GlobalDataThe Financial Supervisory Commission has taken a cautious approach to mobile payments and previously denied permission to download payment apps onto secure NFC phones or bridge technologies. These restrictions have, however, been lifted since the agency approved new regulations in January governing the security and management of mobile credit cards.
Taiwan, with a relatively high penetration of contactless terminals is seen as a budding hotspot for NFC commercial launches.
There are more than 20,000 terminals that support PayPass and Visa payWave in Taiwan, and Taipei-based EasyCard runs a closed-loop transit fare collection and retail payment scheme accepted at 30,000 terminals.
In addition the five telcos, Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone, Vibo Telecom and Asia Pacific Telecom; along with EasyCard, have recently invested NT$150mn ($5mn) in a joint venture to build an NFC payments platform.
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