Taiwan to allow credit card payments through mobile phones

Want China Times, Liu Tsung-chih and Staff Reporter 2013-01-19

Smartphones. (Photo/Chen Chun-wei)

More people in Taiwan will soon be able to make payments with their mobile phones after the country's Financial Supervisory Commission announced that banks in the country can apply for approval to integrate credit card functions with card holders' handsets.

The commission made the announcement on Jan. 15, after Taiwan's Bankers Association completed and filed the standard security control procedures required for making credit card payments with mobile phones.

With the new mobile payment service and the existing mobile banking service, users will be able to transfer money, pay bills, shop online and make credit card payments through their mobile devices, a bank official said.

Compared with the ongoing trial project related to mobile phone payments, which is carried out by five local banks, the official scheme will allow shoppers to make payments that exceed the current limit of NT$3,000 (US$480), officials from the commission said.

The five banks taking part in the pilot scheme are Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Taipei Fubon Bank, Union Bank of Taiwan, Taishin Bank and Cathay United Bank.

However, card holders will still have to sign a receipt or provide pin numbers if their purchases exceed NT$3,000 (US$480), which is mandatory under current regulations.

Moreover, in addition to the existing method of making credit card payments through a specially made phone casing, which has been adopted by banks in the trial scheme, the new regulations will allow banks to store the card information on mobile phone SIM cards or memory cards.

To ensure transaction safety, credit card issuers are required to follow the rules formulated by the Bankers Association and meet security standards designed for credit card payments made through mobile phones.