After nearly a year in the making, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) finally approved the first batch of five stored value facility (SVF) licences last week, including Alipay Wallet, Wechat Pay, Tap&Go, TNG eWallet and Octopus Card, marking a new milestone for retail payments in Hong Kong. Previously, Hangzhou, China, the birthplace of Taobao Alibaba, has become China’s veritable “largest mobile payment city”. Digital payments are starting to change people’s lives.
Perhaps at this point, readers will be ignorant of these emerging payment methods, so it is better to read a related report: “Ah Fu” from Germany, after graduating from the Chinese Department of Fudan University in Shanghai, China, befriended a Shanghai girl and became a Chinese “son-in-law”. The Weibo influencer experienced a cashless trip to Hangzhou last month. In the morning, I used Alipay to take the bus, and after arriving at the destination, I used WeChat to scan the code to pay for shopping, eating, and ordering, and I only carried my mobile phone and passport with me throughout the whole process. At the end of the day, Ah Fu said, “I have been to more than 30 countries around the world, and there is no city as convenient as Hangzhou. Even if it is an ordinary biscuit stall on the side of the road, mobile payment can be completed.”
In fact, Afu’s cashless gaming experience only showcases some of the many features of mobile payment. In addition to the store payment and the familiar Taobao online shopping payment function, transfer, collection, mobile recharge and even AA payment have been directly added to various mobile payment apps, users can open the app, bind the information can directly complete the payment of various fees on the mobile phone, and even the Hong Kong and Macao pass can now be made through WeChat appointment.
Imagine that you don’t need to pay in cash to buy coffee or take a taxi; Travel visas only need to be booked and paid in the app, how convenient will this be for Hong Kong people who require efficiency in everything?
While cash payments are still mainstream, innovative payments are also the way to go. In the face of the increasing application of mobile payment, innovative technologies can greatly meet the business needs of the digital convergence era, but only by ensuring that new technologies are secure enough will they be finally accepted by consumers.
