Apple Pay to be launched in Taiwan Wednesday
Apple Pay, a mobile payment and digital wallet service provided by Apple Inc., will become available in Taiwan from Wednesday, local banks that are part of the initial launch of the service confirmed Tuesday. After Apply Pay becomes available, consumers in Taiwan will be able to use their iPhones and Apple Watches to make payments when they make purchases at physical stores, on apps and on websites, according to information on the website of the U.S. consumer electronics giant. It said shoppers will simply need to place a finger on the Touch ID sensor and hold the iPhone within an inch of the contactless reader to make a purchase. When […]
The impact of Blockchain on Trade Finance and Cybersecurity
Companies in today’s ‘digital first’ ecosystem are being forced to continuously innovate in order to stay at the forefront and remain competitive in their industry, particularly in the financial services and financial technology space. Blockchain technology is already starting to reinvent the infrastructure for global finance; anything that facilitates the frictionless flow of money. Yet blockchain is frequently associated with fraudulent ponzi schemes and trading scams. Blockchain technology sits on a consensus-driven distributed ledger that facilitates and keeps a record of all historic transactions, without the need of a third party – a concept which could revolutionise global trade, and challenge the existence and purpose of intermediaries such as commercial […]
Samsung Pay joins India’s digital-payments movement
As India’s cash issues continue to create incentives for new mobile payment systems, it’s no surprise that Samsung has jumped into the fray with its its Samsung Pay digital wallet. The Apple Pay competitor’s implementation includes support for PayTM and the Unified Payments interface. It has a ton of network financial services partners, though Citibank India is still forthcoming. Samsung Pay will arrive on the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch shortly, the company added. It currently works on Samsung’s high-end smartphones, though it’s rumored to be coming to the J series in India. Source: Samsung Pay joins India’s digital-payments movement – CNET
Fintech firms see huge potential in e-commerce in Indonesia
A bright yellow sign at the front of Mr Asep Hermawan’s stall in South Jakarta reads, “We accept KJP for the purchase of school uniforms, books and pencils”. KJP is short for Kartu Jakarta Pintar, or Jakarta Smart Card – a virtual wallet similar to Singapore’s CashCard. It was introduced by the Jakarta government as a welfare benefit for students from low-income families living in the capital. “Pencils and pens are the best sellers, then books and school uniforms,” said Mr Asep. “More and more people are using KJPs to pay.” The KJP system was introduced in 2012 to disperse welfare funds and also to prevent the money from being […]
Growing demand for mobile payment services across Asia
Cashless payments are growing in Asia with consumers lured by an increasing array of services, from smartphone payment apps such as e-wallets to stored value cards and cheap online interbank transfers. Many like the convenience and safety of not having to carry cash. But the growth is not universal, and, in some countries, cash remains king because of fears of identity theft as well as the lack of infrastructure and lack of knowledge of the digital world. Insurance agent Zhang Tong goes out for lunch every day without a dollar on her. She pays for her noodles by scanning a QR code with her phone, which is also how she […]
How secure is your mobile wallet?
Owing to ease of use, digital payment or mobile wallet apps have seen massive uptake in recent past. But how secure is your digital money? Demonetisation in the last quarter of 2016 pushed citizens of India to use digital payments instead of cash transactions. Owing to ease of use, digital payment or mobile wallet apps have seen massive uptake in recent past. But how secure is your digital money? We checked out the security levels of some of the popular mobile payment apps below. Read on. Paytm Paytm, synonymous to mobile wallets in India, has single factor authentication by default. That means that once you have logged onto the app, […]
Dublin startup Touchtech Payments makes plans for international expansion
One of the first financial technology companies in Europe to develop a solution which uses fingerprinting and retinal scanning to authenticate online payments, Dublin startup Touchtech Payments is making plans for international expansion. Operating in a market where an EU directive will require all banks to improve security by introducing a two-factor authentication by the end of 2018, Touchtech co-founder and head of products, Niall Hogan sees an opportunity to make the most of the early mover advantage. Up until now, the market has been dominated by major players offering payment authentication solutions using passwords and text messages. “There was very little innovation in this space until the fintech revolution […]
South Korea’s Viva Republica taps PayPal to fund Fintech
South Korea-based financial technology services company Viva Republica announced last week that it had closed a KRW 55 billion ($47 million) Series C round of funding. Among the investors in this latest round were venture capital firm Goodwater Capital and US-based payment service PayPal. Viva Republica has found success in its home market with its peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payment app Toss, which claims to have 6 million users in South Korea. The Nikkei Asian Review reported that Toss users transfer money via the app an average of 6.7 times per month—almost triple the average for similar services. According to data from Wiseapp, Toss was the second most used mobile payment […]
