Shenzhen Tong, Octopus to merge

shenzhendaily has an article named “Shenzhen Tong, Octopus to merge” by SD-Agencies.

A NEW smart card incorporating Shenzhen Tong (TransCard) and the Hong Kong Octopus card will contain two accounts for cross-border travelers to pay transport fares and make purchases with local currency in the two cities.

Octopus Holdings’ chief executive Prudence Chan Bik-wah was quoted by South China Morning Post as saying that the new card would be launched later this year. A chip would be installed in the “two-in-one” stored value card for Shenzhen Tong and Octopus.

All transactions made in Shenzhen will be settled by the yuan account, and those across the border through the Hong Kong dollar account.

The value-adding and balance-checking services are also territory-bound, meaning that cardholders can only put money and check the balance on their Octopus card accounts through terminals in Hong Kong. This is because of monetary restrictions and concerns over safety and privacy issues.