Macau Pass S.A. indicated to Macau News Agency (MNA) today (Friday) that although a fee will be collected for the use of their payment terminals in the second phase of the local government consumer e-card scheme, it will still partially refund SMEs.
Yesterday, the Macau government announced the second e-card consumer voucher round expected to inject MOP3.6 billion (US$450.8 million) in the local economy will start on August 1 and finish on December 31.
As with the first round between May and July, the cards can be used in businesses equipped with Macau Pass payment terminals, however, while in the first round no fees were collected from businesses, this time the company responsible for the local MPay mobile payment system and Macau Pass payment cards will charge a 0.5 per cent transaction fee.
The Director of Macau Pass S.A., Joe Liu, indicated that the company does not receive any commission from the payments or for installing the terminals, having committed with authorities to “fully absorb the costs”.
The company noted that the rebate offered in the first phase of the consumer card scheme amounted to sone MOP11.5 million, while Macau Pass has incurred MOP30 million in operating costs.
‘Macau Pass is also affected by the epidemic, but we still hope we can work with the society to fight the epidemic and boost the economy. Therefore, we have decided to charge 0.5 per cent of the merchant service charge – handling fee – at the second phase as part of the operating cost,’ a company spokesperson told MNA.
The company added that it will charge in accordance with the current procedure, and then refund SMEs a service charge other than 0.5 per cent.
Yesterday, Macau Economic Bureau (DSE) Director Tai Kin Ip had indicated that the average surcharge taken by Macau Pass ranges from 0.7 per cent to 1.2 per cent per transaction, but that the company had pledged to charge a maximum of 0.5 per cent.
However, he still underlined that the actual amount depended on the agreement made between the company and the businesses.
The second round will have a higher MOP5,000 provided to each resident but will maintain the MOP300 limit used in the first round – which handed MOP3,000 to each resident from May to July and covered some MOP2.2 billion – with other requirements and locations for the use of the cards also maintained.
