LCQ19: Settling government bills
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Question:
At present, the Government provides a number of payment channels for members of the public to settle government bills. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the operators of the various payment channels have charged the Government for any transaction fees; if so, of the methods for calculating such fees (e.g. calculated on a yearly or a per-transaction basis) and the levels of such fees (e.g. a flat fee or a certain percentage of the transaction amount), and set out the relevant information according to the payment channels as set out in the table below; and
| Payment channel (if there is more than one operator in respect of the same payment channel, and the various operators have put in place different arrangements, please set them out one by one) |
Method for calculating fees | Level of fees |
| PPS | ||
| Faster Payment System | ||
| Internet banking | ||
| Phone banking | ||
| e-Cheque | ||
| Convenience store | ||
| Others (please specify) |
(2) of the public expenditure incurred by the Government in each of the past five years for the provision of online payment services?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the two parts of the question is as follows:
(1) The Government currently provides various payment channels for members of the public to settle government bills. Transaction fees are paid to the operators according to the contracts. The relevant payment channels and methods for calculating the transaction fees are as follows:
| Payment channel | Method for calculating transaction fees |
| PPS | Fixed fee per transaction |
| Faster Payment System | |
| Internet banking (including credit card, bank transfer etc.) |
|
| Phone banking | |
| Convenience store | |
| Others (Autopay, automatic teller machine, Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment service, post office and postal remittance) |
Information of the transaction fee level of individual payment channels above are commercially sensitive and hence could not be provided. Overall speaking, the average expenditure incurred by the Government for each transaction settled through the payment channels above is around $3.
e-Cheques are collected through the "Pay e-Cheque" portal operated by the Government. No transaction fee to the operator is involved.
(2) The expenditure incurred by the Government in each of the past five years for the provision of electronic payment services through the payment channels mentioned above is as follows:
| Financial year | $ (Million) |
| 2014-15 | 17.4 |
| 2015-16 | 17.9 |
| 2016-17 | 18.8 |
| 2017-18 | 21.8 |
| 2018-19 | 22.0 |
Ends/Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Issued at HKT 11:55
Issued at HKT 11:55
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