NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Mastercard has announced it will support QR code-based payments in Taiwan starting next year, working with the country’s largest credit card acquirer and processor and also Taiwan’s nascent domestic debit card network.
The announcement this week follows an announcement by Visa last summer that it would support QR code-based payments by the end of 2018 in Taiwan. Both networks already support NFC payments from the major Pays wallets, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay–all of which have launched in Taiwan. (See total spending with Pays wallets in Taiwan below.)
The Mastercard announcement includes two bank-controlled companies or networks, the National Credit Card Center, or NCCC; and FISC, or the Financial Information Service Co., an ATM network and domestic debit scheme in Taiwan. For their member banks, both NCCC and FISC will support the Mastercard QR code specification, which in turn supports the international EMVCo QR code specification, according to the announcement.
