Business Group Says Shift To E-payments Long Overdue

The president of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association, Pam Mak, said on Sunday that some businesses are finding it difficult to familiarise themselves with electronic payment platforms – but the shift is long overdue.

"You can see in all over the world, people are using electronic payment... Hong Kong is a bit backward already. Now is a good way to improve ourselves." she said.

The first instalments of the government’s HK$5,000 consumption voucher scheme were distributed at the start of August, with the payments doled out through four electronic payment providers.

Writing in his blog, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said that besides boosting the economy, one of the aims of the voucher scheme is to expand the coverage and the usage of electronic payment systems.

He said at the end of July – just before the first instalments were delivered – the four electronic payment platforms registered more than 2.2 million new consumer accounts and more than 48,000 new retail accounts.

Chan said he’s expecting operators’ service charges to drop and service quality to improve, as online shopping and e-payments play a growing role in the retail sector’s development.