Banks in Taiwan to Begin Issuing Smart Cards

According to a decision by the Bankers' Association of the Republic of China, inter-bank transactions by means of magnetic cards will be stopped from next year, which will gradually eliminate the more than 64.5 million magnetic cards currently in circulation.

Most banks provide two kinds of IC cards for customers to choose from. In addition to IC-embedded cash-withdrawal cards, some banks are expected to launch the so-called IC-combo cards, which combine cash-withdrawal, credit, cash-advance, stored-value and smart debit services on one card. Combo cards also give banks an opportunity to expand their credit-card market share when their savings-account customers upgrade their original magnetic cards.