Taiwan is the most active country in promoting integrated chip (IC) cards in the Asia-Pacific region, said a report by MasterCard International released yesterday.
The nation's business operators more clearly comprehend the advantages of IC cards than those in any other Asia Pacific country, it said.
The survey, conducted by MasterCard International in eight Asia-Pacific countries, said Tai-wan, Japan and Malaysia's merchants have the most abundant knowledge of IC card technology, while those in Hong Kong and Singapore are comparatively ignorant in this regard.
"Both the severe problem of fraudulent cards and keen competition amongst banks make Taiwan the pioneer in the adoption of IC cards," said Julie Yang (
The revenue lost to fraudulent credit cards from 2000 to 2001 amounted to around NT$3 billion, accounting for 0.004 percent of the total value of all transactions in Taiwan, Yang added.
The survey showed that about 77 percent of stores are willing to accept credit cards and nearly 50 percent of stores can "clearly identify" the advantages of IC cards.
In a bid to resolve the increasingly severe problems of card fraud in Taiwan, the Ministry of Finance ruled in October that the more than 600 million magnetic cards currently in circulation need to be converted into more secure IC cards by next June.
International credit card issuers like Visa and MasterCard are also promoting the conversion of magnetic credit cards into IC cards by 2006.
Taiwan's banks are contemplating adopting a combo card system in order to save costs and consumers trouble by taking this opportunity.
Eyeing the needs of the banking sector, MasterCard provided Taiwan's banks with IC combo card systems which meets the highest international security standards, with each IC card costing under NT$100.
Hong Kong has adopted the multiple application operating system in its personal identification system, Yang said. Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) and Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) have decided to utilize this system, he added.
Around 40,000 credit card readers in Taiwan, accounting for 25 percent of total readers, have finalized the transformation, with an average of up to 3,000 readers to be changed per month, according to the report.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had