Hong Kong local digital payment platform developer Yedpay made its way to ASEAN

The signing ceremony was held on January 12 at the 16th Asian Financial Forum (AFF), theming "Accelerating Transformation: Impact ∙ Inclusion ∙ Innovation". At the event, Yedpay announced new partnerships and together opened a new chapter for the financial technology.

Hong Kong's first non-bank credit card acquiring service provider Yedpay announced that it will partner with Venture Cap, the subsidiary of ASL Securities located in Thailand, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Easylink to shape the future of FinTech in ASEAN. The signing ceremony was held on January 12 at the 16th Asian Financial Forum (AFF), theming "Accelerating Transformation: Impact ∙ Inclusion ∙ Innovation". At the event, Yedpay announced new partnerships and together opened a new chapter for the financial technology.

Yedpay COO Beatrice Tai noted in her speech at the signing ceremony that Yedpay as a start-up company located in Hong Kong, is committed to developing a financial technology brand that revolutionizes the payment industry. Its open payment platform assists merchants with an APP to process credit card transactions and e-wallet payments in physical stores and online. Yedpay integrates electronic payment technology into day to day life, which includes the creation of the first cashless market in Hong Kong, updated the payment methods of the Taxi industry to go digital, etc. From 2023 onwards,on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road initiative, Yedpay will expand its business abroad, with Thailand as its first stop, while making its way to other parts of the ASEAN countries. Yedpay also plans to launch diversified financial products and strives to build an ASEAN Payment Hub to connect ASEAN, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China.

Wattana Kultavarakorn, Executive Managing Director of ASL Securities noted in his speech that Thailand has achieved some of the most rapid FinTech development in all of ASEAN. According to the World Bank, almost 140 FinTech companies registered in the country in 2018-2019, half of these are new companies and enterprises, which shows great confidence in the FinTech sector in Thailand, also creates an enabling environment for its innovation and development. ASL Securities, as a leading online securities company in Thailand, 25 percent of its shares are owned by State-owned Government Savings Bank(Thailand), which possesses a professional executive team with more than 30 years of experience in securities and investment banking. This time its subsidiary Venture Cap's joining hands with Yedpay will deliver efficient and secure payment system services in Thailand, which will also bring new opportunities for both companies and further promote the interconnection and cooperation in the FinTech sector between Thailand and Hong Kong.

Dr.Haibo Hu, Associate Professor of Hong Kong Polytechnic University noted that, the core technology partnered with Yedpay, the Tap-to-Phone function, is an industry leading payment technology for Hong Kong, which is a breakthrough to the traditional point-of-sales(POS) terminals pattern, allows merchants to use their mobile phones to process transactions while data security is ensured. Tap-to-Phone is now in its pilot phase and can accept credit cards issued by Visa and Mastercard and it is expected to be available to all Yedpay business users in early Q2 this year. Hong Kong Polytechnic University is committed to promoting the Industry-University-Research collaboration for many years. The cooperation with Yedpay will become another example of the Industry-University-Research collaboration in the FinTech sector.

The cooperation between Yedpay and Thailand's Venture Cap is based on cross-border remittance and e-wallet channels, establishing a data quantification trading platform, and jointly introducing cutting-edge payment technology to Thailand and the ASEAN region. The cooperation between Yedpay and Easylink will jointly provide a compliant, legal, safe and convenient cross-border remittance solution, the new 24*7 instant remittance system allows users to access various electronic payment accounts, use credit cards and e-wallets for value-added remittance, and remit to the global UnionPay accounts through the UnionPay Global Express network (UnionPay MoneyExpress), bringing a more borderless cross-bank transfer experience. The cooperation between Yedpay and Hong Kong Polytechnic University focuses on the joint development of the "Hong Kong first" Tap-to-Phone technology, which is a brand new payment collection solution, wholly developed in Hong Kong, replacing the traditional POS machines with APP on mobile phones. The three partnerships represent the connection between Yedpay and financial markets in mainland China, Hong Kong, and ASEAN region, showing the company's future direction and its ambition to expand globally.

Moreover, the spokesperson of Yedpay said in an interview after the ceremony that Yedpay, as a financial technology company established in Cyberport in 2016 plans to establish Yedpay Innovation Lab to conduct research with Cyberport and partners to study the local implementation of e-CNY and e-HKD. The company hopes to receive further support from the government, also hopes to prove the feasibility of interconnection between the local CBDC system and the traditional payment system, which is expected to solve the existing bottle neck of cross-border payment such as high cost, low efficiency, and low transparency.

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About Yedpay

In the early days of its establishment, Yedpay developed a payment platform in Cyberport, Hong Kong. It was launched in 2017. It is committed to developing a financial technology brand that revolutionizes the payment industry. Its open payment platform assists merchants with an APP to process credit card transactions and e-wallet payments in physical stores and online.

The Yedpay system uses cloud technology and ensures data security. It has obtained the PCI DSS payment industry security standard level 1 certificate since 2017, and obtained the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 information security management system certification international standard since 2018.

Yedpay integrates electronic payment technology into traditional culture, including created the first cashless market in Hong Kong, changed the payment mode of the Taxi industry to go digital, and organised the Cheung Chau Bun Festival for the first time to enable more than 100 merchants on the island to accept digital payments. The whole process is connected with Yedpay, and it is the first time to electronically transform Fa Yuen Street merchants in the form of full digital payment, etc.

From 2023 onwards, Yedpay will focus on ASEAN, with Thailand as the leader, and radiate ASEAN. Yedpay will also launch diversified financial products, merchant e-wallets from collection to remittance, and strive to build an ASEAN Payment Hub to implement ASEAN, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China with the same pace for digital.