FINT E C H That said, there’s still plenty of ground left to cover in
Hong Kong, with online and mobile payments in particular still less ubiquitous than elsewhere in Asia-Pacific. Online payments in China, for example, already account for half of global transactions, says d’Haussy. Meanwhile, in Singapore 61 per cent of people polled in
the latest 2017 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes survey said they believed the country could become cashless within the next seven years. Compare that with Hong Kong, where a recent survey conducted by the Hong Kong Productivity Council found that only 29 per cent of the city’s populace had ever paid for something using their smartphone, and it’s clear the city has a gap it needs to close. However, there are signs that the city’s residents may
Home-grown innovations developed by local companies are also gaining traction
be coming around to mobile payments. Last December, some 2,500 of the city’s approximately 40,000 taxi drivers signed up to allow mobile payments using Chinese platforms WeChat Pay and Alipay – a notable step for the city’s cash-preferring drivers. Soon after, Octopus – maker of the city’s widespread contactless stored-value cards – began implementing its own QR code system designed specifically for taxis and small merchants. In addition to transportation, the Hong Kong Monetary
Authority (HKMA) is expected to issue its first virtual bank licences later this year, which would open the door for banks that deliver their services primarily through the internet or electronic delivery channels. This in turn could help drive the growth and potential
ubiquity of mobile payments in Hong Kong for companies looking to offer the service. “It will take time for some of Geoswift’s services in mobile payments to gain traction in a market like Hong Kong, where retail consumers are happy using credit cards and cash,” says Qu. “The onus will be on virtual banks to convince people to use them.”
MADE IN HONG KONG As well as attracting international fintech companies like Storiqa, home-grown innovations developed by local companies are also gaining traction. Hong Kong-based TNG FinTech Group was founded in 2013, providing electronic wallets (e-wallets) through which users can deposit and withdraw cash at specific locations. Currently the platform has more than a million users, is available at about 1,300 locations, and the total value of transactions conducted through its primary platform, TNG Wallet, reached HK$6.1 billion (US$777 million) last year. Another company, Bitspark, was founded in 2014 and
provides money transfer services for companies powered by blockchain technology – a decentralised database that is difficult to tamper with and forms the basis of cryptocurrencies. As of April, the company had 11 money transfer shops in Hong Kong, and plans to increase this figure tenfold by the end of the year. The rise of home-grown companies has been aided
by support schemes such as the Cyberport Incubation Programme, a two-year, HK$330,000 (US$42,000) grant designed to help foster the initial development of start-ups in the city (Bitspark was one of these).
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