The Monetary Authority has granted stored value facilities licences to five organisations - Alipay Financial Services (HK), HKT Payment, Money Data, TNG (Asia), and Octopus Cards.
The licences were issued under the Payment Systems & Stored Value Facilities Ordinance which came into effect in November to empower the Monetary Authority to implement a mandatory licensing system for multi-purpose stored value facilities (SVF) and perform supervision and enforcement functions.
The authority’s Chief Executive Norman Chan said the grant of the first batch of licences turns a new page in Hong Kong’s retail payment development, noting the implementation of the licensing regime will facilitate the introduction and adoption of new retail payment means while safeguarding users’ interests.
The licence of Octopus Cards will be effective from November 13 while that of the other four became effective from today.
A one-year period is allowed for existing SVF issuers or new market operators to apply for SVF licences.
From November 13 it will be illegal for any person, unless being exempt, to issue or operate SVF without a licence.
