Did American Express just crack the code on China's domestic clearing market?
Written by Leilei Wang || 14 Nov 2018
China's bank card market is large. Over 9 billion domestic payment cards will be in use by the end of 2018, a nearly 35% increase from the 6.7 billion in 2016. Even though the market is replete with card providers, the clearing business has been always dominated by the only one licensed clearing institution, China UnionPay (CUP), for both domestic and cross-border RMB transactions. That is, until now.
Singapore adopts new standardised national QR code – the final piece of the mobile wallet puzzle?
Written by Greg Simkins || 30 Oct 2018On September 18th 2018 the MAS launched the Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR). Within the next year, 27 different mobile wallet providers including PayNow, NETS, GrabPay, Liquid Pay, and Singtel Dash will incorporate the new standardised code. The SGQR is the first of its kind globally and represents a significant change to the e-payment landscape. Interoperability is seen as a key infrastructural requirement for mobile payments and will have several impacts on new and incumbent firms in the market.
Alipay ups its security to prevent scams
Written by Felix Yang || 03 Sep 2018During the Internet Security Summit in Beijing on August 21st, Ant Financial announced the official upgrade for the security control of its digital payment platform – Alipay. The more secured process is achieved through what is called a 'Delayed Payment' (DP) function.
Technology brings more imagination to financial service – from China Fintech to Techfin
Written by Leilei || 06 Jul 2018China's tech giants are increasingly focused on positioning themselves as technology providers rather than financial services providers. A recent 3-second blockchain remittance from Hong Kong to the Philippines, was supported by Alipay HK and Philippine's GCash, cleared by Standard Chartered. Caifu Hao, a wealth management platform launched by Ant Financial, opened their AI-functioned investment tools to fund companies. Tencent recently signed contracts with a few banks to provide a financial cloud structure for acquiring and managing growing clients.
Blockchain empowers Alipay’s cross-border remittance services
Written by Felix Yang || 03 Jul 2018June 25th 2018, Ant Financial launched its E-wallet cross-border remittance service based on blockchain technology. Customers using Alipay HK can transfer money in real time to another E-wallet Gcash based in the Philippines.
Faith can move mountains, Ant too.
Written by Felix Yang || 07 Jun 2018Ant Financial was valued at $150 billion recently, making it the biggest unicorn globally. As it completed its most recent $10 billion financing, the company has made it clear that Ant’s future is being a tech provider to the financial industry.
Are banks slowly regaining the edge over fintechs in China?
Written by Felix yang || 08 May 2018China's banks have lost significant market share to fintech companies like Ant Finance and Tencent, especially in the mobile payment space, which the fintech companies have used as a basis to move into other market segments such as online lending. Banks have been distanced from consumers and there are concerns that people do not need banks any more. Are things really that bad?
Alibaba pushes further into rural with a 4.5 bn investment in Huitongda
Written by Leilei Wang || 26 Apr 2018On April 7th, 2018, Alibaba announced an investment of 4.5 billion RMB (7.1 bn USD) to Huitongda, showing the intention to develop business in the rural areas of China. They will cooperate on supply source, logistics, technology and life services.
Has China hit peak smartphone?
Written by Giorgio Milki || 22 Feb 2018
In 2017, the Chinese smartphone market saw its first ever decline, with -4% YoY growth in smartphone shipments and -4.9% YoY growth in smartphone sales.
Does Alibaba's 33% purchase of Ant Finance signal a more open environment for foreign payment companies in China?
Written by Leilei Wang || 09 Feb 2018On February 1st, Alibaba and Ant Finance jointly announced that, according to their strategic agreement signed in 2014, Alibaba will acquire 33% of Ant Finance’s shares through one of Alibaba’s subsidiaries.
Regulation on Barcode Payments to Solve E-payment Scams and Facilitate Fair Market Competition in China
Written by Leilei Wang || 24 Jan 2018In China, bar code payments (including QR codes) dominate the mobile payment market. Using a bar code to pay is easy, but comes with risks. In 2017, about RMB 90 million ($14 million) was stolen due to fraud. On December 25th, 2017, the People’s Bank of China (the PBOC) released new regulation to standardize bar code payments. The regulation will come into effect from April 1st, 2018.
Will WhatsApp's India move drive mobile payment competition or too little too late?
Written by Shannon Beets || 03 Jan 2018Previously, WeChat has been the world's dominant chat & payment app with over 1 billion WeChat users worldwide, spread over 15 countries; 200 million of which use the app's payment function. Could WhatsApp's December 2017 release of a payment enabled WhatsApp app in India find similar success?
China Union Pay Intensifies Competition in the Payment Industry
Written by Leilei Wang || 18 Dec 2017On December 11th, 2017, China Union Pay (CUP), together with over 30 commercial banks and payment institutions, launched a new version of its mobile payment APP, QuickPass (云闪付), starting a new battle in the mobile payment industry.
The Philippines propositions the Chinese telecommunications market
Written by Shannon Beets || 15 Dec 2017China Telecom and China Mobile, two of China's leading telecommunication companies, were approached by the Chinese government under a proposition to enter the Philippines telecommunications market.
Bitcoin, the future of currency? Or a speculative bubble waiting to burst?
Written by Giorgio Milki || 06 Dec 2017With Bitcoin recently hitting an all- time high of $14,000 USD on December 7th 2017, many have been asking questions about whether the cryptocurrency’s price will continue to rise in the future or if it is simply a speculative bubble waiting to burst. The currency has risen by over $13,000 USD since the 1st of January 2017, a remarkable, and for some unfathomable surge considering it has no tangible assets or value at its core.
Singapore and Thailand to form an unprecedented E-payment Alliance
Written by Giorgio Milki || 20 Nov 2017Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay are set to link their national digital payment systems, thereby making it easier to send money between the two countries.
What can PayPal learn from Alipay’s business model?
Written by Ashleigh Fernandez || 17 Oct 2017It is quite obvious that Alipay is the largest mobile payments platform in the world, with approximately 400 million registered users. Third-party payment platforms play an integral role in Chinese consumers’ everyday transactions because of the multi-faceted services offered, such as ecommerce and mobile payment transactions.
According to iResearch data released in September 2014, the Gross Monetary Value of China’s third-party online payments reached 1,840.66 billion Yuan (USD $299 billion), with year on year growth of 64.1%.
The third-party payment industry is in an integrative stage
Written by Leilei Wang || 17 Oct 2017The People’s Bank of China (the PBOC) started issuing the Payment Business License since May 2011 to non-banking institutions. Up until March 2015, the PBOC had issued 270 payment licenses.
TECNO: China's home grown smartphone manufacturer has quietly taken over the African smartphone market
Written by Remi Osokoya || 22 Sep 2017China’s Transsion Holdings, one of the major mobile phone manufacturers in the world and second largest smartphone vendor in Africa is known for owning mobile phone brands TECNO, itel and Infinix. It was the first Chinese smartphone manufacturer to explore the African market and have a smartphone plant in Africa.
Today, its mobile phone brands have experienced tremendous success with itel being the second largest handset vendor in India with approximately 8 million sold handsets within only 8 months of its launch. Whilst, Infinix is successfully winning over the Nigerian and Kenya smartphone market through 'Infinix Mobility' which reported that it sold over 4 million devices in Africa within a 16-month period.
So, What's Next For Ant Financial?
Written by Diego Castillo || 11 Sep 2017
Ant Financial is well established as the largest fintech in China. These past two years have been excellent for the company as they reached 450 million users with an average expenditure of 16,000 RMB through the Alipay platform. They recently started to make use of Alibaba’s acquired controlling stake of company Lazada in Singapore, which has given them access to most of the SEA market. In addition, Ant bid for Moneygram in the United States, and funded bike sharing service Gobee.bike’s launch in Hong Kong (being the first bike sharing company of the kind launched in HK). However, the important question here is: what awaits the company in the near future? Three words. Diversification, internationalisation and experimentation.
QR Codes helped define Alipay and WeChat Pay, but now they might be their biggest challenge
Written by Zennon Kapron || 09 Aug 2017QR-codes have been a boon for China's 3rd Party Payment providers, but due to QR-Code standardization and the launch of China's Online Settlement Platform for Non-Bank Payment Institutions, more colloquially known just as Wanglian, QR-codes could now be the payment giants' biggest challenge.
Why India's Hike messaging app adding payment services matters
Written by Anshuman Jaswal || 26 Jun 2017Hike messenger, a popular phone messaging service app in India, has recently decided to introduce payment services on its platform.
Wang’lian could mean a big shift in China's digital payment business models
Written by Felix Yang || 27 Apr 2017On the last day of March 2017, Wang’lian (Internet Payment Union) started its trial operation after one year of preparation. The first group of companies that have joined the platform include: Wechat Pay, China Merchants Bank, Bank of China, and Chinabank Payment. The platform will effectively cut the 3rd party payment networks of Ant Financial and Tencent, and is likely the most important payment industry development this year, and it may not bode well for China's dominant digital payment companies.
China’s Central Bank Chief Encourages Fintech Development
Written by Felix Yang || 13 Mar 2017Last week, at The Fifth Session of the twelfth National People's Congress in China, Mr. Zhou Xiaochuan, the chief governor of People’s Bank of China (PBOC), encouraged the development of Fintech during the press conference among all topics about finance reform and development in China.
Alipay: no more excuses not to turn your mobile phone into a POS-terminal
Written by Denis Suslov || 02 Mar 2017In its recent mobile app update, Alipay has put its QR code for accepting payments away from the main screen to a separate button on the top right corner. This seemingly small technical change has operational and business implications too.
Can RuPay in India emulate the success of China UnionPay?
Written by Anshuman Jaswal || 30 Jan 2017The RuPay is an initiative by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It is intended to provide a domestic alternative to the global MasterCard and Visa card payment systems. It will also allow NPCI to consolidate various payment systems in India. It is directly comparable to its Chinese counterpart, China UnionPay, which has been highly successful and is a world leader in payment systems.
Another step to tighten the control on third party payment companies in China
Written by Felix Yang || 16 Jan 2017Last Friday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, issued a new notice for the third party payment companies which will be enacted on April 17th, 2017 and will require the payment companies to deposit around 20% of the held customer fund to specified general bank accounts.
Will Alibaba's Circles incident slow down the development of the credit score industry in China?
Written by Denis Suslov || 30 Dec 2016The first batch of Chinese credit scoring companies has been waiting for their licenses for 24 months now. What are the reasons for the delay and how has the recent Alipay Circles incident affected the formal launch of the industry?
Wang’Lian, the new clearing house for digital payments in China
Written by Felix Yang || 14 Dec 2016Since the start of this year, there have been many news about the set up of “Wang’Lian”, which means Non Bank Internet Payment Union, in China.
China gives up on NFC, goes QR
Written by Zennon Kapron || 13 Dec 2016NFC standards have been agreed and in place for just over 5 years in China, but have made little headway. On Monday this week, China UnionPay launched their own QR code solution. China UnionPay was one of NFC's primary supporters, so this shift to QR could mean the end of NFC in China.
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The Internet Banking Union may help you transfer money from Alipay to Wechat pay
Written by Felix Yang || 02 Dec 2016This week, the Internet Banking Union (IBU) was approved by China’s central bank the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) thus creating a 'Digital Union Pay' that may bring cross-platform interoperability to digital payment platforms including Alipay and WeChat Pay. The platform is expected to launch by the end of the year and may bring a big change in the digital payment industry in China.
Ant Financial is super active globally, but what is beyond the headlines?
Written by Denis Suslov || 02 Nov 2016The recent wave of Alipay partnerships with merchant acquirers has spanned the globe. With the common goal of letting Chinese tourists pay with Alipay, one of their favorite payment methods, Ant Financial has partnered with Wirecard in Germany, Ingenico in France and First Data in the US.
Alipay’s internationalization pushes the Double Eleven festival forward
Written by Felix Yang || 25 Oct 2016With November 11th right around the corner, we will soon be in the midst of the China's largest shopping day of the year. The real question will be what happens this year. We know that e-commerce sales will be huge, but will Alibaba be able to beat their 91.2 billion RMB ($18.8 billion) 2015 singles day turnover and set another global record for the largest one day GMV sales?
Need someone to walk your cat? Alipay “Everywhere” can help.
Written by Felix Yang || 18 Oct 2016Alipay, the most popular mobile payment app in China, has launched a brand new feature at the end of September called “Everywhere”. This new function can help Alipay users to find people nearby who may provide certain services you want. So if you need a plumber, you can use "Everywhere" to find one near you.