Hong Kong Monetary Authority issues licences to eight more stored-value service providers
Development comes as one-year grace period to obtain licences nears and as some firms struggle to quit the business
A second batch of stored-value service providers received licences from the Monetary Authority on Friday while other unlicensed providers struggle to quit the business.
A law came into effect last November to regulate the previously unsupervised electronic payment business. Providers were given one year to obtain licences. That period expires in mid-November.
Another eight to 10 companies have expressed an interest in obtaining a licence.
Henry Cheng, an executive director at the authority, said the main challenge for firms transitioning out of the business was that many of their users were “untraceable because they did not provide contact information when they signed up for the service.”