Transfer of funds stored in an electronic stored value card to an electronic payment account shall be limited to NT$30,000 per day(Taiwan)

Erica Chiu

The Financial Supervisory Commission promulgated the Jin-Guan-Yin-Piao-10440005800 Directive of December 18, 2015 (hereinafter, the “Directive”), pointing out that transfer of funds stored in a stored-value card to an electronic payment account shall be limited to NT$30,000 per day. The Directive became effective on the day of its promulgation.

Under Article 5-1 of the Statute for the Administration of Stored Value Cards, issuers that issue registered stored value cards meeting certain criteria may, according to the instruction of a cardholder, transfer funds stored in the cardholder’s registered electronic stored value card into his/her electronic payment account. The competent authority may limit the amount of such transfer set forth in the preceding paragraph under specific conditions set by the competent authority.

According to the Directive, the above-mentioned limit should be cumulatively NT$30,000 per day and cumulatively NT$300,000 per month. If a cardholder holds over two registered electronic stored value cards from the same issuer, the amounts transferred to his/her electronic payment account should be combined, and the combined total transfer amount shall not exceed the above limit.

This Directive further indicates that the specific conditions include: (1) an issuer shall verify the authenticity of cardholders’ identity upon their application to register their electronic stored value cards by (a) requesting identification papers or passports from the cardholders and (b) verifying cardholders’ identity based on the identification papers or passports they provide; (2) an issuer shall designate an electronic payment institution as a specially contracted institution before such institution may transfer the balance of a registered electronic stored value card to the cardholder’s electronic payment account opened at the electronic payment institution under the same name at the instruction of the cardholder; (3) for Class 1 electronic payment accounts to which funds stored in electronic stored-value cards are transferred, the identification verification procedure to verify the authenticity of national identification or visa information shall be completed; (4) when an issuer transfers funds stored in electronic stored value cards to electronic payment accounts of an electronic payment institution, settlement should be conducted via financial institutions; and (5) funds stored in electronic stored-value cards should be transferred in New Taiwan Dollars only and to NTD electronic payment accounts only.