- A globally interoperable EMV® QR Code Specification supports Taiwan government’s digital payment goals, targeting areas dominated by cash, such as wet market
- The new payment solutions will be available in ten digital wallets across five different use cases
In partnership with government,
financial institutions, digital wallet providers and merchants, the QR code
payment will follow specifications published by EMVCo[2]. This means EMV®QR Code based payment
will enjoy the same security and convenience as any existing Visa transaction
in Taiwan.
Visa estimates that currently two in five (37
percent)[3]
of its cardholders and account holders in Taiwan have access and can use EMV®
QR Code based payment. Together with industry partners, it expects to enable
more consumers to scan to pay.
Taiwan government aims to reach the
goal of 90 percent mobile payment penetration rate by 2025. QR code payment will
play a vital role in displacing in the “long tail” of small merchants. Though more than half of face-to-face Visa
payment volume in Taiwan (55 percent) are contactless[4],
indicating frequent everyday use, cash is still king on the island.
Marco Ma, General Manager, Visa
Taiwan, said: “Central to the success of widespread usage of digital payment, particularly
QR code, is interoperability. The ability of different payment platforms to
understand and communicate to one another is fundamental to the growth of an open
commerce ecosystem. It means any consumer can pay with whichever mobile wallets
that follow the EMV® QR Code Specification, and that include
visitors to Taiwan.”
Visa’s Consumer Payment Attitudes
Study[5]
found that Taiwanese consumers visit small merchant at least once a week. While
more than 90 percent of these small merchants only receive cash, 44 percent of
respondents hope that these merchants accept digital payments, including
contactless and QR payments.
Mr. Ma added: “QR code has the
potential to significantly accelerate the growth of digital payments acceptance,
due to the lower setup cost and easy implementation, eliminating the need for
traditional POS hardware. Increased use of digital payments has contributed to
meaningful economic growth in Taiwan, with more than USD 1.9 billion or about NTD
59 billion added to the GDP from 2011 to 2015[6].”
The Consumer Payment Attitudes
Study indicated that close to half (49 percent) of Taiwanese consumers
have already used QR Code payment, which is higher than Hong Kong (28 percent)
and Macau (10 percent); within 51 percent of non-users, there are up to 74
percent of consumers aware of QR Code payment and more than half (51 percent) of
respondents interested to try, showing QR Code’s great potential on the island.
According to the same study, Taiwan
consumers identify the following benefits of QR payments: no need to carry physical
cards (65 percent), time saving (56 percent), and safer transactions (49
percent). For current non-users of QR code payment, the top five areas where
they would like to scan and pay are convenience stores (60 percent), bill
payments (50 percent), hypermarkets or supermarkets (49 percent), fast food and
quick service restaurants (45 percent), and café, food court and small eateries
(44 percent).
EMV® QR Code based
payments are currently available in 10 mobile wallets: Taiwan Mobile Pay Wallet,
Taishin Bank’s CARDaily, Bank SinoPac’s QR Fun Wallet, Standard Chartered’s
Mobile Banking, Hua Nan Commercial
Bank’s Mobile App, Mega International Commercial Bank’s Mega Pay, Chang Hwa
Commercial Bank’s Wallet, First Bank’s e-Action, Taiwan Cooperative Bank’s E
Pay, and Taiwan Business Bank’s Mobile Banking.
Visa looks to expand acceptance in five
major merchant categories,
namely dining, transportation, wet markets, tourism and leisure, and daily frequent
purchase. Examples include Taipei Fish Market, Taipei Flower Market, Phoenix
Travel Agency, Zhiying Taxi Fleet, Ximending Commercial District and Yongkang
Street.
Visa continues to work with Taiwan
Mobile Pay Wallet and the government's digital payment standard to improve the
security, convenience and interoperability of Taiwan's QR code payment
ecosystem.
[1] EMV® is
a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries and an unregistered
trademark elsewhere. The EMV trademark
is owned by EMVCo, LLC.
[2] EMVCo is
the global technical body that facilitates the worldwide interoperability and
acceptance of secure payment transactions by managing and evolving the EMV
Specifications and related testing processes. EMVCo is collectively owned by
American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay and Visa, and focuses on
the technical advancement of the EMV Specifications. To provide all payment
stakeholders with a platform to engage in its strategic and technical
direction, EMVCo operates an Associates
Programme and encourages all interested parties to get
involved.
[3] VisaNet: April 2019
[4] VisaNet: January 2019
[5] The “2019 Consumer Payment Attitudes Study” is conducted by Intuit
Research on behalf of Visa. This online survey was conducted in May 2019 with
1,250 residents in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. It is intended to track and
analyze consumers’ perceptions, adoption, and attitudes toward cash and
non-cash payments.
[6] The study by Moody’s Analytics, commissioned by Visa “The Impact
of Electronic Payments on Economic Growth” and additional materials can be
found on www.visa.com/moodysanalytics