Taiwan’s Premier Simon Chang has approved a proposal for the use of mobile payment services, including Apple Pay, in the region and is expected to announce the final decision tomorrow, FocusTaiwan reports. Under the proposal, mobile payment providers will be allowed to choose their own token service provider (TSP), the authenticating entity for mobile payments, either domestic or foreign, adds the source.
According to the Taiwanese law, the clearing and settlement of transactions with cards issued domestically will have to be done in Taiwan. Previously, the central bank of Taiwan has shown concerns about Apple Pay’s service quality and security, since its TSP is operated by institutions based outside of Taiwan. On the other hand, local mobile payment companies have argued that granting approval to foreign platforms would hamper their development prospects.
The Executive Yuan said that in order to provide consumers with more options, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), Taiwan’s top financial regulator, should ask international mobile payment operators to work with non-credit credit card companies, such as debit card, e-ticket and third-party payment service providers, to enable both domestic and foreign service providers to go online using mobile devices.
To help the development of domestic TSPs, the Cabinet will also direct FSC to coordinate with international mobile payment operators and international associations of international credit card issuers to talk with domestic TSPs.
For those who don’t know, TSPs generate a temporary alternate personal account number during credit card mobile payments to increase transaction security, since the alternate account number is rendered useless after the transaction.
