Transaction accident hits HK's most popular electronic money

Octopus Cards Limited, the most popular electronic money issuer, is asked to review its operational risk to win back consumer confidence Saturday after octopus card users complained about transaction mistake.

Octopus card is a popular electronic money that has been widely used by Hong Kong people in daily life, especially in public transportation. However, some of its users found last December that money had been deducted from their bank accounts but no money added to their octopus cards when they did the transaction through add-value machines inside rail stations.

Hong Kong's Monetary Authority Chief Joseph Yam said Saturday on a radio talk show that the company, apart from finding out the cause of the problem, should review its operational risk and take sufficient security measures since it is now a popular form of electronic money with diversifying business.

Octopus Cards Limited said the upgrade of the electronic system last year may cause message transmission problem which resulted in failed transaction. It promised Friday to reimburse the money to the victims in three working days and hire an independent company to investigate the accident.

Meanwhile, bank transaction through automatic add-value services have been stopped.

Source: Xinhua