The Government announced the registration of $5,000 electronic consumption voucher scheme is targeted to start in summer vacation. It is estimated that there are around 7.2 million eligible persons, involving a financial commitment of about $36 billion. At the same time, the Government also wants to encourage through the Scheme more local merchants and members of the public to use electronic payments, so as to foster the development of the local electronic payment market.

With the assistance of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), four Stored Value Facility (SVF) operators have been selected to assist in implementing the Scheme, with a view to commencing registration in this summer. The selected SVF operators are Alipay HK, Octopus, Tap & Go and WeChat Pay HK. The respective SVFs currently cover a network of some 30 000 to 100 000 merchants in the local retail, food and beverage, and service industries.