Having secured mass adoption, providers must now build trust and attract harder-to-reach groups to bridge the final gap.
In 2017, Taiwan set an ambitious goal for 90% of people to make at least one mobile payment by 2025. In a country that was still dominated by cash, many doubted it could be achieved.
The push was about more than convenience. For policymakers, digital payments promised efficiency and better tax compliance, while providers saw opportunities to build broader financial ecosystems.
By 2023, however, usage had already surpassed 80%. Adoption accelerated during the pandemic, bolstered by government backing and the aggressive push of major platforms, making mobile payments part of daily life for millions.
“The pandemic was a key catalyst for Taiwan’s payments landscape,” says Eva Chen, Mastercard senior vice president and general manager, Taiwan. “Consumers who once only used card-on-file payments for online shopping suddenly turned to them for food delivery, streaming, and even shared transportation. Today, card-on-file usage spans everything from subscriptions and groceries to travel and taxes.”
Yet even with this progress, obstacles linger. Small merchants remain difficult to onboard, older consumers are slower to adapt, and regulators continue to balance the drive for innovation against the need for consumer protection and financial stability.
Taiwan’s first efforts to promote mobile payments date back to the mid-2010s, when the National Development Council (NDC) established a cross-ministerial task force to foster a more cashless economy. Sixteen agencies were involved, from financial regulators to transportation and tourism authorities, with three main strategies: building a complete regulatory environment, expanding the range of applications, and strengthening consumer awareness campaigns.
Before 2021, e-payment providers and stored-value card issuers operated under separate rules, leaving their systems fragmented and unable to interact. A turning point came that year when the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) amended the Act Governing Electronic Payment Institutions (EPI), consolidating the regulations. The revisions widened the scope of business activities and, importantly, enabled interoperability through a shared infrastructure managed by the semi-governmental Financial Information Service Co.
The Banking Bureau told TOPICS via email that this framework “helped build a payments ecosystem in which users can transfer funds, pay taxes, and shop across different institutions using a single standard platform, significantly improving convenience and competition.”
However, the benefits have not been evenly distributed. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) — which make up more than 98% of businesses in Taiwan — regulatory costs remain a hurdle.
“Electronic payment institutions face high compliance costs, which are difficult for SMEs to afford,” says Lin Jiunn-shiow, director-general of the Administration for Digital Industries (ADI). “Third-party providers, on the other hand, can offer more affordable services, making them better suited to support night markets, small restaurants, and other micro-enterprises.”
The pandemic added another layer of momentum. Before Covid-19, mobile payment penetration in Taiwan had been climbing steadily, reaching 40% in 2017, 62% in 2019, and 68% in 2020, according to data cited by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the NDC.
By 2023, penetration had risen to more than 80% as both consumers and merchants sought out contactless solutions. Gloria Yuk, senior vice president of LINE Pay Taiwan, says that the crisis “accelerated the change in people’s habits.” She explains that even older consumers, who had long insisted on cash, “experienced the convenience during the pandemic and began to change their minds.”
Contactless services have been another growth driver. “Everyday payments — from small purchases and dining to international travel — are increasingly made through contactless methods,” says Mastercard’s Chen. “In 2021, Mastercard introduced Tap on Phone in Taiwan, and by 2023 Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone made Taiwan the first market outside the U.S. to adopt this service. These innovations are helping SMEs and micro-merchants accept digital payments more easily.”
For many SMEs, digital payments were a lifeline during pandemic lockdowns, while for households the crisis augmented a broader cultural shift. Lin notes that while the transition was gradual, Covid accelerated long-term behavior change.
“People realized that carrying cash was inconvenient and even risky,” he says. “Once they experienced the ease of using mobile payments in daily situations, from sports events to local markets, adoption became much more natural.”
Shifting competition
As adoption has expanded, competition among providers has intensified. Taiwan’s mobile payment landscape remains fragmented, with many users spread across several domestic and global platforms. According to Robin Hu, an analyst at the semi-governmental Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), the leading dedicated e-payment providers in mid-2025 are iPASS (6.98 million registered users), JKoPay (6.93 million), and PX Pay Plus (6.21 million), followed by EasyCard and E.Sun Bank.
Third-party provider LINE Pay stands apart. Licensed under the ADI rather than the FSC, it is not included in FSC statistics. But its registered users reached 13.1 million in April 2025 — over half of Taiwan’s population — and its 2024 transaction volume totaled NT$756 billion (US$25 billion), more than three times that of all FSC-regulated e-payment operators combined.
Yuk attributes this dominance to LINE Pay’s integration with the LINE messaging app, co-branded and point reward credit cards, and a robust LINE Pay ecosystem. “Taiwanese users love rebates and points,” she says. “We designed LINE Points to provide real-time rewards, and that innovation has truly driven LINE Pay’s growth.”
LINE Pay has also expanded its reach beyond Taiwan, developing a two-way cross-border service. “Our strategy is to be more than a payment provider — we want to be a marketing platform,” Yuk says.
South Korea’s Shinhan and Hyundai Cards to allow Korean tourists to use LINE Pay with merchants in Taiwan or explore the Treasure Map without leaving their own apps, while Taiwanese users can benefit from discounts at popular tourist destinations abroad, including Korea’s largest duty-free shops, hypermarkets, and other retail channels.
“It’s about creating one-stop solutions for merchants and users, linking marketing, payments, and data services,” Yuk says. For SMEs, this bundling is especially attractive, giving smaller shops access to tools — from loyalty programs to inbound tourist spending — that they might not otherwise afford or manage.
Meanwhile, the government-backed Taiwan Pay, launched in 2017 under the guidance of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance (MOF), was intended to provide a common platform for banks and financial cooperatives. With the integration of Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) credit card standards, merchants can use a single QR Code to accept payments from debit cards, credit cards, and mobile wallets.
The Banking Bureau told TOPICS in emailed responses that by late 2024, “52 financial institutions and over 570,000 merchants had adopted the TWQR standard, processing NT$442 billion in transactions in the first eleven months of the year — a growth rate of more than 20% compared to 2023.”
Despite these advances, Taiwan Pay has not displaced private-sector wallets. The Bankers Association of The Republic of China (BAROC) told TOPICS in writing that while the TWQR “greatly improves interoperability,” it appears that “consumer preference continues to favor platforms with stronger rewards and broader service ecosystems.”
Lin notes that the ADI supports the unified TWQR initiative, since it can help avoid consumer confusion. “We don’t want people to scan multiple QR codes at the checkout counter,” he says. “By ensuring one interoperable standard, we can make the experience more seamless while still safeguarding personal data and cybersecurity.”
Adoption barriers
Although mobile payment usage is strong in convenience stores, supermarkets, and online platforms, adoption is uneven. Hu says MIC’s surveys show that night markets, small restaurants, traditional retailers, and services such as auto repair shops or temples remain reluctant to embrace mobile payments.
According to the Institute for Informational Industry (III), under the supervision of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, many of these businesses fear that digital payments will increase tax liabilities or require costly investment in systems.
“Thin profit margins and lack of digital literacy create natural resistance,” III told TOPICS in emailed responses. To address the issue, the MOF has provided tax incentives since 2018, offering reductions for small businesses that adopt mobile payments. These incentives are currently set to expire at the end of 2025.
Taiwan’s regulators also face the challenge of encouraging innovation while ensuring financial stability and consumer protection. To meet the challenge, the FSC has introduced a fintech sandbox, supported the creation of the FinTechSpace incubator, and published Fintech Roadmaps in 2020 and 2023.
In July 2024, it announced a “Five Strategies for Fintech Development” focused on expanding pilot programs, encouraging collaboration, tokenizing real-world assets, and strengthening digital identity systems
Consumer protection is another priority. The Banking Bureau notes that under the revised EPI Act, e-payment providers are required to assume liability for fraudulent transactions unless the user is proven negligent. “This ensures that consumers are not unfairly burdened by unauthorized use of their accounts,” the Bureau notes.
Security concerns also extend to phishing schemes that impersonate trusted e-payment providers. In recent cases, emails posing as LINE Pay “verification notices” tricked elderly users into disclosing account credentials and one-time passwords. Fraudsters then linked stolen accounts to credit cards, purchasing high-value goods and reselling them through mule networks.
Law enforcement has responded by tracing phishing websites used to harvest credentials and dismantling the networks that facilitated the fraud. Banks and regulators have also increased efforts to warn consumers, particularly seniors, against sharing verification codes or clicking on suspicious links.
Yuk emphasizes that LINE Pay adheres to international standards. “We are certified under ISO 27001 and PCI DSS Level One,” she says. “Our systems undergo penetration testing by teams in Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. We know our services must be trusted and stable, even if that means growing more slowly than competitors.”
In a similar vein, Chen emphasizes that Mastercard’s role is not just to enable adoption but also to protect consumers. “We provide end-to-end safeguards before, during, and after every transaction,” she explains. “In Taiwan, we recently launched Mastercard Payment Passkey, which uses biometrics such as facial recognition or fingerprints instead of one-time passwords. Combined with tokenization, it ensures both security and convenience.”
Elderly consumers remain one of the most difficult demographics to convert. A 2023 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that while Taiwan’s seniors increasingly recognized the usefulness and convenience of mobile payments, concerns about trust and financial risk still weighed heavily on their decisions. The study concluded that building confidence through clear protections and ease of use would be critical to driving adoption among older groups.
Future growth
Looking ahead, analysts see three major growth areas for mobile payments: cross-border payments, service ecosystem expansion, and high-value financial applications
First, cross-border functionality is set to play a larger role as travel increases. Integrating payment systems with partners in Japan, Korea, and potentially Singapore will enable Taiwanese consumers to make seamless overseas purchases and allow inbound tourists to use their domestic wallets in Taiwan.
Second, mobile payment platforms are evolving into multi-service ecosystems. Beyond simple payments, they now channel financial products, advertising, data analytics, and loyalty programs. “Merchants increasingly look to us not just for payment solutions, but for marketing and data services that can help grow their businesses,” says LINE Pay’s Yuk.
Third, profitability hinges on offering higher-margin financial services. MIC’s Hu forecasts that providers will move beyond promotions toward subscription-style memberships, investment and wealth management, online insurance, and digital lending.
In Taiwan, these strategies are shaped by local realities — from a price-sensitive consumer base that values rebates to SMEs seeking affordable marketing tools, and a tourism sector eager to capture cross-border spending.
Despite progress, challenges are substantial. BAROC told TOPICS that fraud prevention remains a constant battle. Meanwhile, the III notes that demographic divides — particularly among elderly consumers and rural merchants — still slow adoption. And while the Banking Bureau points to strong safeguards, skeptics note that consumer trust could easily be undermined by data breaches or service failures.
Players will also need to deal with fierce competition. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay continue to gain traction in contactless payments, while domestic providers like JKoPay and PX Pay Plus are investing heavily to retain users.
Taiwan’s journey toward a cashless society has been swift and far-reaching, with mobile payments emerging as a core part of the financial landscape. Government policy, regulatory support, and aggressive private-sector initiatives have driven adoption. However, pushing penetration beyond the current plateau will be the greatest challenge.
“Even though we are number one in users and merchants, cash still accounts for a huge share of total payments,” Yuk says. “Our goal is not just to grow numbers, but to become part of people’s everyday lives.” For his part, Lin of ADI says expanding SME adoption is critical to reaching this goal. “SMEs often cannot afford the compliance costs banks impose,” he explains. “By working with smaller providers, they gain affordable access to mobile payments and the transaction data that can help them improve their operations.”
