First five companies licensed to offer stored value facilities in Hong Kong
Licence holders include Octopus and Alipay Wallet; city’s monetary authority aims to regulate expanding electronic payment services sector
Hong Kong’s de facto central bank on Thursday granted the first batch of licences to five stored-value service providers in a landmark move to regulate the city’s rapidly expanding electronic payment business.
The five licence holders picked out of 20 applicants are: Alipay Wallet; Tap & Go, run by PCCW’s HKT; WeChat Pay; Hong Kong-based TNG Wallet; and Octopus & O! ePay run by Octopus Cards.
Alipay is owned and operated by Ant Financial Services, which is an affiliated company of Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post.
Such payment services had been operating without supervision in the city until last November, when an ordinance was introduced by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
Players were granted a one-year transition period to operate without a licence.
“The grant of the first batch of licences for [issuers of stored-value facilities] is turning a new page in retail payment development in Hong Kong,” Norman Chan Tak-lam, chief executive at the authority, said.