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Mobile payments

Mobile payments
Cash is history. Whether its ordering groceries from our smartphone or using it to pay for the bus, these companies and services are changing the way we pay for goods and services.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
The case has drawn national attention, partly given Bob Lee’s status in the tech world. Photo: X/crazybob
Crime

US tech consultant found guilty of murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee

Nima Momeni faces 16 years to life in prison for stabbing Lee to death with a knife he took from his sister’s kitchen.

Ant Group

Jack Ma makes rare speech at Ant Group’s 20th anniversary

Yuan

China’s digital yuan roared out of the gate, but stumbling blocks have popped up

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Tencent

Tencent beats estimates with 47% profit jump, driven by video gaming

Video gaming sales, traditionally Tencent’s strongest revenue driver, grew 14% in the domestic market.

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The Tencent headquarters in Shenzhen, China’s southern Guangdong province. Photo: AFP
Ant Group

Ant International drives AI in cross-border payments to boost global expansion

The firm’s AI model predicts currency exchange rates on an hourly basis, helping businesses reduce transaction costs.

Ant Group

Ant CEO Eric Jing touts tokenisation benefits for cross-border transactions

Tokenisation is a major focus of FinTech Week this year, in addition to AI, as Web3 in Hong Kong looks beyond ‘speculative’ cryptocurrencies.

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E-commerce

Shopping on Taobao via WeChat: Tencent, Alibaba break digital wall

Users of Tencent’s WeChat can now buy and pay for products sold on Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace without leaving the multipurpose app.

Tencent and Alibaba have torn down another major digital wall between their digital ecosystems. Photo: Bloomberg
Golden week

Chinese tech giants from ByteDance to Meituan see rise in ‘golden week’ spending

Major online platforms for dining and travel-booking services recorded increased expenditure by mainland consumers during the annual holiday.

Tencent

Tencent says WeChat payments jump during China’s ‘golden week’

Consumers in China appear to have loosened their purse strings after Beijing announced a slew of heavyweight measures to boost the economy.

Golden week

Alipay sees surge in travel transactions during China’s ‘golden week’ holiday

During the first four days of the holiday, the number of transactions made via Alipay in overseas markets surged 60 per cent year on year.

Shoppers and tourists line up at a luxury fashion brand store in Hong Kong during the Golden Week holiday. Photo: Edmond So
Ant Group

Ant International teams up with EPL’s Tottenham Hotspur in global expansion push

Singapore-based Ant International will serve as Tottenham Hotspur’s exclusive global payment solutions provider and digital wallet partner.

Ant International expects to score big under a strategic partnership with English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur. Photo: Shutterstock
Tencent

Wave to pay: Tencent brings palm scan to tourists in Macau

WeChat Palm Pay lets mainland tourists pay by scanning their hand in shops located in hotels under the Galaxy Entertainment Group.

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Ant Group

Ant Group to hold new round of dividend payments to shareholders

This would mark the third round of dividend payments by Ant Group, following two previous rounds in December and March 2022.

Vietnam

Momo, Vietnam’s Alipay, sees growth in digital wave, expanding middle class

Vietnam’s mobile-payments leader is expanding its presence in offline consumption while boosting financial services and merchant solutions.

People use smartphones as they drink tea by a road in Hanoi. Photo: Bloomberg
E-commerce

Alibaba merchants hail WeChat Pay adoption on Taobao and Tmall

Many hope that the move could lure more consumers from rival platforms that already accept a variety of payment methods.

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Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall will start making WeChat Pay available for merchants next week. Photo: Shutterstock
Ant Group

Fintech giant Ant Group launches AI personal assistant app in China

Zhixiaobao, a play on the Chinese name for Alipay, helps users with daily tasks such as ordering meals or hailing taxis through text or voice prompts.

Alibaba

WeChat Pay comes to Taobao: Alibaba and Tencent bury the hatchet

Alibaba is soliciting feedback from merchants about accepting China’s second-largest mobile payments network on the country’s largest e-commerce sites.

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Ant Group

Alibaba-backed e-wallet operator buys Ant Bank Macao

The acquisition makes Ant Bank Macao an indirect subsidiary of AGTech, while Ant Group remains the bank’s second-largest shareholder.

Signage for Ant’s Alipay payment system. Photo: Bloomberg
Banking & finance

HKMA fines Tencent’s WeChat Pay unit HK$875,000 for due diligence failures

The HKMA’s investigation covered a period of five years up to October 2021, during which time WeChat Pay failed to implement adequate measures and controls.

E-commerce

China’s internet users near 1.1 billion, driven by short videos

In the first half of 2024, more than a third of China’s new internet users were drawn to short video apps, a government survey shows.

Payment tokens transform business

Payment tokens change the game for Asia-Pacific’s businesses

Visa Token Service boosts sales, accelerates revenues and reduces payment declines for clients including Adyen, Afterpay and Foodpanda.

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Visa
Payment token technology has significantly improved the speed and convenience of transactions for businesses and consumers in the Asia-Pacific region. Photo: Shutterstock
China travel

Opinion | How China can make life better for foreign and domestic tourists alike

Refining entry policies, mobile payment systems and rail travel can help make the mainland an easier and more welcoming travel destination.

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Foreign tourists walk near the Forbidden City in Beijing on August 13. According to the National Immigration Administration, the country recorded about 14.6 million entries by foreign tourists in the first half of 2024, an increase of more than 150 per cent year on year. Photo: EPA-EFE
Hong Kong economy

Letters | Hong Kong must not mix up ‘check-in’ and ‘in-depth’ tourism

Readers discuss the limits of social media-driven ‘check-in tourism’, the real reason some Hong Kong businesses don’t take digital payments, and breaking up the DSE exam into two.

Tencent

Tencent profit jumps 82% on back of strong video gaming, ad growth

Tencent’s profit grew to US$6.6 billion in the second quarter, while revenue rose 8 per cent to US$22.5 billion.

Tencent

Tencent’s WeChat keeps fine balance as everyday app and public-service platform

With more than 1.3 billion monthly active users, WeChat’s every technical update and policy change are closely scrutinised on the mainland.

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WeChat, marketed as Weixin on the mainland, is a well-entrenched online tool for everyday life in the world’s second-largest economy. Photo: Shutterstock
China economy

Opinion | China’s tourism policy must now go beyond visa-free travel

China must make it easier for foreigners to experience the country and citizens to travel abroad if it wants to reconnect with the world.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
China technology

Alipay drives evolution of contactless payments in China with new tap-and-pay service

Alipay expects its Tap! service, which is being rolled out in major cities across mainland China, to ‘expedite in-store mobile payments’.

Ant Group

Ant Group-backed Paytm gets India’s nod to invest in payments arm

The approval, which still has to be vetted by the finance ministry, will remove the main stumbling block to the unit, Paytm Payment Services, resuming normal business operations.

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