Recent Blogs
September 4, 2017
2Q2017 Key Highlights – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Jingdong’s Financial Report The Internet sector in China is still booming. Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Jingdong (JD) have achieved increased profits this quarter, showing that China’s Internet sector is still booming despite a fairly saturated market. Baidu’s revenues rose 14.3% this quarter to RMB20.874 billion, according to an article from the Financial Times. Alibaba’s revenue for the quarter was RMB50,184 million (US$7,403) million, an increase of 56% year-over-year, according to a press release from Alibaba. Tencent revenue was RMB56,606 million (USD8,356 million), an increase of 59% over the second quarter of 2016, […]
September 1, 2017
FOMO Pay selected to join national SGQR taskforce to develop Singapore’s payment industry Less than two weeks after PM Lee Hsien Loong, in his National Day Rally speech, urged Singaporeans to embrace mobile payments, a payments council has been set up to look into ways to advance the development of cashless payments in Singapore. The payments council was established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (‘MAS’) and a taskforce called SGQR was appointed to spearhead the initiative. While a plethora of e-payment methods is currently available for Singapore consumers, including WeChat Pay, Alipay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and many others, […]
August 29, 2017
China establishes clearing house for mobile payments companies like WeChat Pay and Alipay The China National Clearing Centre, the Chinese central bank’s settlements and clearing division, has signed an agreement ordering all mobile payment companies such as WeChat Pay and Alipay to channel mobile payments through a new clearing house by next June, a move that is expected to have a significant impact on the dominance of WeChat Pay and Alipay. China is the current world leader in terms of mobile payments, with transaction volumes more than doubling in Q1 2017 according to iResearch Global. Online payment services are ubiquitous […]
August 28, 2017
WeChat Pay playing catch-up with Alipay in overseas markets In terms of duration and experience in the mobile payments industry, Alipay can be considered a veteran, having been in the market since 2004. This has allowed Alipay to capitalize on significant first mover’s advantage in China as well as overseas markets. Established in 2013, WeChat Pay is nearly a decade younger than Alipay. However, in mainland China, WeChat Pay has rapidly caught up with Alipay in terms of usage, largely because WeChat Pay was able to creatively integrate mobile payment with its social networking tools. However, WeChat Pay is still […]
August 24, 2017
Traditional banks aware of threat posed by fintech giants WeChat Pay and Alipay For many years, traditional banks have dominated the online payment industry. This was achieved through collaborating with financial services companies such as Visa and Mastercard, which provided these banks with branded payment products for consumers to choose from. In recent years however, the traction gained through novel payment methods made by fintech companies such as Tencent’s WeChat Pay and Alipay have caused banks to rethink their traditional payment modes. During the Rise Conference in Hong Kong, Jing Ulrich, vice chairman Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase acknowledged the […]
August 21, 2017
DBS Bank has started a contactless payment trial with Old Tea Hut, using a phone app called FasTrack. Queuing up time has been cut from 20 to six minutes. Photo: Ernest Chua In late 2014, the Singapore government unveiled plans for Singapore to become a Smart Nation. This entailed harnessing the power of networks, data and info-comm technologies to create economic opportunities and build a closer community. As Singapore ramps up plans to build a Smart Nation, the prospects for mobile payments companies like WeChat Pay, Alipay and Apple Pay appear to be bright. Mobile payments fit into the Smart […]