Malaysian mobile banking app users can now make overseas DuitNow QR payments via Alipay+

Source: PayNet. From left: Michael Guo, GM, Alipay+ SEA, ANZ and South Asia, Ant International; Praveen Rajan, CEO, PayNet; Danny Chung, GM, Alipay+ Global Growth Center, Ant International; and Azrul Fakhzan B. Mainor, Chief Commercial Officer of PayNet.

Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet) has launched outbound DuitNow QR payment connectivity through Alipay+, the unified wallet gateway of Ant International. Malaysians can now use supported local mobile banking apps to pay at participating Alipay+-supported merchants in five destinations: mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, South Korea, the Philippines and Laos. The initial three launch banks are Maybank, CIMB and Hong Leong Bank, with Bank Islam set to join soon.

The launch forms part of PayNet’s long-term roadmap to extend secure and interoperable payment connectivity beyond Malaysia. It aligns with Bank Negara Malaysia’s vision for faster, more efficient and inclusive cross-border payments.

At participating merchants in the five supported destinations, customers can open the DuitNow QR payment function in their Malaysian banking app and scan the merchant’s QR code displaying the Alipay+ logo. They can then review and confirm the transaction within the same application, without downloading another app or creating an Alipay+ account.

“Cross-border payments should feel as familiar as paying at home. This connectivity gives Malaysians an easier way to pay abroad. It also shows how collaboration between financial institutions and global payment partners expands the reach of Malaysia’s national payment infrastructure beyond our borders. More broadly, stronger payment connectivity can help spending flow more easily across borders and strengthen Malaysia’s economic links with the region,” said Praveen Rajan, CEO, PayNet.

Pay with a local e-wallet at over 2 million Japanese merchants

Source: Ant International. Alipay+ - and the local payment methods it supports - is now offered by 2 million Japanese merchants.

Ant International's cross-border mobile payment solution Alipay+ has connected 2 million merchants across Japan, enabling local businesses to accept payments from customers using their home country e-wallets.

Sixteen e-wallets and bank apps are now accepted in Japan via Alipay+, a suite of cross- border digital payment and digitalisation technology solutions, including the following in the Asia Pacific region: 

- Alipay (Chinese mainland)

- AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR China)

- MPay (Macao SAR China)

- Kakao Pay (South Korea)

- Naver Pay (South Korea)

- Toss (South Korea)

- OCBC Digital (Singapore)

- Changi Pay (Singapore)

- EZ-Link (Singapore)

- Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia)

- MyPB by Public Bank (Malaysia)

- GCash (Philippines)

- HelloMoney (Philippines)

- TrueMoney (Thailand)

- Hipay (Mongolia)

Powered by Alipay+, transaction volume made by e-wallets and bank apps in Japan jumped over 200% in the first three weeks of March, compared with the same period in 2023. Transaction value is estimated to account for about 10% of total spending among users during their stay in the country, shared Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International. 

Another positive indicator is transaction volume from Alipay+ partner e-wallets and bank apps at Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, a flagship department store chain in Japan. This figure rose over 10x in the first two months of this year, compared with the same period last year. 

Akito Kimura, Manager of Inbound Business Division for Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores said: “Starting with connecting Alipay to make Chinese customers more at home, we are pleased to expand our partnership with Ant International by integrating with Alipay+. This will allow us to accommodate the preferred payment methods of our international customers through simple integration. 

"We look forward to working together to drive more innovation, ensuring all customers can enjoy a memorable and peace-of-mind shopping experience at our stores.” 

Feagin added: “We are grateful to our over 40 local acquiring partners in Japan, including both big institutions as well as small ones that only have several employees, for their tremendous support to promote a seamless, transparent and efficient experience together for local businesses and international travellers.

“By working with these partners, Alipay+ provides global tourists with a seamless digital payment experience that is the same as in their own markets. Without any extra efforts, tourists can make purchases by simply scanning the QR code at merchants of all size, without worrying about foreign currency exchange or any language barriers.”

Alipay, AlipayHK, Kakao Pay, Touch ‘n Go eWallet, GCash and TrueMoney are among the most popular e-wallets used by travellers to Japan, while MPay, Naver Pay and Toss are seeing rapid growth in transactions, Ant International said.

Venetia Lee, CEO of AlipayHK said: “Japan is the first foreign destination of AlipayHK as it is one of the most favoured travel destinations for Hong Kong residents. Powered by Alipay+, Hong Kong people can now use AlipayHK to make purchases at local stores and use car-hailing in Japan, which are settled in Hong Kong dollars with competitive exchange rates in the market. 

"With the increasing acceptance of Alipay+ among local merchants in Japan, the daily transaction values and volumes of AlipayHK in the country in the first quarter have surged 3.5x and 5x over the previous quarter. I am confident that the usage of AlipayHK will continue to grow in Japan on the back of the strong adoption of Alipay+ services among the Japanese merchants.”

Ren-Ren Reyes, President and CEO of GXI (G-Xchange Inc.), the mobile wallet operator of GCash said: "Our long-standing partnership with Alipay+ has allowed us to be an indispensable companion for Filipino travellers in now 47 countries and territories around the world. We are glad to continue strengthening our collaboration with Alipay+ to ensure every Filipino has a seamless and secure cashless payment option when they travel abroad." 

Won-Keun Shin, the CEO of Kakao Pay, a major acquirer in South Korea, said, “We are glad that users can easily and conveniently pay with Kakao Pay at 2 million large and small merchants in Japan, one of the most visited countries by Korean tourists. Through discussions with Alipay+ as well as several e-wallet partners representing each country, we will accelerate global expansion and provide more benefits.” 

John Sun, Chairman and CEO of Macau Pass, stated, “As the leading mobile payment e-wallet in Macao, MPay, together with Alipay+ which has launched a suite of innovative digital cross-border solutions, strives to create a smart e-wallet that facilitates Macao residents to travel globally. This could also solve the issues they encounter with payment while travelling overseas, thus improve travellers' payment and shopping experience.  

"MPay will continue to expand in e-payments, lifestyle services, and marketing technology services to develop more open and diversified intelligent payment business scenarios.”

Alan Ni, CEO, TNG Digital, the operator of TNG eWallet, said: “As Malaysia's top e-wallet provider, we're committed to serving users locally and expanding globally. Our partnership with Alipay+ has seen transactions surge sixfold this year, specifically in Japan, a true testament to our dedication to innovative payment solutions. With over half of Malaysia entrusting TNG eWallet as their preferred digital payment and financial services provider, we aim to be the ultimate travel companion, ensuring easy and safe transactions wherever our users go.”

Monsinee Nakapanant, Co-President of Ascend Money, the operator of TrueMoney stated: “Japan ranks as one of the most popular destinations with approximately 1 million Thai travellers each year. We are pleased to work with Alipay+ to create more inclusive cross-border payments and enable Thais to enjoy safe, real-time, and cost-effective payments with their accustomed home wallet TrueMoney. Enabling the travellers to connect with Japanese merchants of all sizes will also expand their experiences of local culture and people that would make their trip more memorable.” 

Introduced by Ant International in 2020, Alipay+ now connects over 88 million merchants in 57 countries and regions to 1.5 billion consumer accounts on over 25 e-wallets and bank apps, allowing consumers to travel and pay hassle-free globally, and merchants to build out cross-border consumer engagement and digital marketing.

The service builds on Alipay+’s extensive regional partnerships, including those with national QR schemes including Singapore’s SGQR, Malaysia’s PayNet, South Korea’s ZeroPay, Sri Lanka's LankaPay and Cambodia's KHQR.

Instarem launches new mobile app for Singapore consumers

Instarem, a digital cross border payments platform has launched a redesigned website and new mobile application for Singapore consumers. Instarem will also be launching a first-of-its-kind consumer debit card, Amaze, for users within the year.

Instarem has refreshed its brand and launched a new app for Singapore.

With the new rebrand, Instarem seeks to go beyond just enhancing consumer remittances globally, to move towards being the change-driver for the complexities around global payments – empowering its customers to do more with their money in an intuitive, transparent, and cost-effective manner. This rebrand also aims to set the foundation for Instarem to eventually become an all-in-one consumer app in coming years.

Yogesh Sangle, Global Head of Instarem, said, “We see the future of Instarem as becoming an essential part of our customers’ everyday lives, offering them the most convenient option for money transfers. Our new identity reflects our belief that money should not be disconnected – it should be simple – and our enhanced offerings bring this belief to life. Our new look better represents who we are today – current, innovative, and global.”

“Our new mobile app provides increased usability for Singapore users that makes it easier for them to navigate and manage their transfers from anywhere in the world. Singapore customers can also expect a new and improved Instarem experience through the launch of a consumer debit card, which allows them to consolidate all their spendings in one,” he added.

Instarem currently operates in six continents and over 100+ markets, serving more than 130+ million customers. More than US$6 billion in transaction volumes are processed annually, and 60% of payments are made in less than 15 minutes.

Explore:

Singapore users can download the mobile app for Android and for iOS.

Parallels rolls out Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac

Parallels, a global cross-platform solutions provider and creator of bestselling software for running Windows applications on a Mac, has launched Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac, which supports macOS Mojave-readiness.

Upgrading to Parallels Desktop 14 offers significant storage savings, faster launch times, improved graphics and the latest versions of Parallels Toolbox for Windows or Mac.

“Millions of Parallels Desktop customers highly value performance and efficiency,” said Jack Zubarev, Parallels President.

“With Parallels Desktop 14, we’ve taken those to the next level by focusing on graphics and storage, allowing customers to save as much as 20 GB of disk space while enjoying the best-ever performance. Personal productivity enhancements include more Windows features available on Mac devices. Touch Bar support for Windows applications — such as OneNote or Quicken — enablesc ustomers to add their favourite applications to the Mac Touch Bar so their shortcuts are at their fingertips.”

Typically, virtual machines are large, taking anywhere from 15–100 GBs of space, or more. To manage two different storage mechanisms at work (Windows and Mac), newly-engineered storage optimisation takes both Windows and Mac mechanisms into account which can result in significant disk space savings.*

The new Free Up Disk Space dialogue that suggests storage-saving actions now handles multiple virtual machines better. Newly-created snapshots occupy up to 15% less disk space.

Parallels Desktop 14 now enables customers to use Microsoft Ink to edit Microsoft Office for Windows documents on a Mac, including pressure-sensitive support in applications such as PowerPoint, Microsoft Edge, CorelDRAW, Fresh Paint, Leonardo, openCanvas and Photoshop for Windows.**

Preconfigured Touch Bar sets have been added to Parallels Desktop 14 for Microsoft Visio and OneNote, SketchUp, AutoCAD, Revit, Quicken, QuickBooks and Visual Studio. They join current Parallels Desktop Touch Bar sets for Windows applications, including: Office 2016 (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook), Windows Start Menu and desktop (Cortana, Task View and Task Bar pinned elements), File Explorer (File Open and Save As settings), ArcGIS and web browsers (Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Vivaldi).

The Parallels Desktop Touch Bar Wizard makes it easy for users to customise the Touch Bar for Windows applications. Additionally, with the use of Touch Bar XML Authoring, users can further personalise the Touch Bar with their own function key shortcuts.

Parallels Desktop 14 supports Dark Mode, a Mojave feature. Quick Look issued on Windows files now shows quick actions. Support for additional Mojave features, which are currently in development, will be tested, finalised and introduced around the forthcoming public release of Mojave. The Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac installation image, which is notarised by Apple, will be seen by users when it is installed on Mojave.

Parallels Desktop 14 now features improved OpenGL support for enhanced graphics, with improvements in SketchUp 2017/2018, CTVox, DIALux 8 and OriginLab.

All view modes have been improved in terms of speed and memory usage, which is especially important when working on multiple high-resolution external displays, including those of 5K resolutions.

Unused virtual video memory is now effectively returned to Mac system memory. Auto mode for graphics allows Windows to use more than 2 GB of Mac system memory for video purposes, while allowing Windows applications to use that memory when possible.***

Additionally, users now get a better frame rate in videoconferencing and can use shared camera technology with cameras that support up to 4K resolutions.

Parallels Desktop for Mac Business Edition

The new Business Edition features enhanced management, plus security and licensing portals. Additional improvements include:

• Smart card readers which are now automatically available in both Mac and Windows for faster access (if enabled).

• The ability for administrators to invite users via email and assign separate administrators for sub-licences for improved efficiency.****

• The ability to replace existing virtual machines in Deployment Mode to streamline productivity.

• Applications deployed in Single Application mode which start faster, along with a new splash screen.

• The Parallels “My Account” portal has been redesigned to be optimised for popular use cases.****

New and popular Parallels Toolbox tools include:

• Screenshot Page – Capture and print lengthy webpages that do not fit onto your screen. Take and print screenshots of webpages in one click—even for pages longer than the browser screen.

• Free Memory – Reclaim RAM memory and optimise its consumption on your Mac. Add the Free Memory tool to the macOS menu bar to check how much RAM is available with just a click to reclaim available memory.

• Resize Images – Batch convert images to a desired file size and format. Drag the source images to the tool’s window, specify the desired dimensions/size and output location, and click.

Parallels Desktop 14 performance has improved significantly:

• Up to 200% performance improvement on the iMac Pro (audio and video encoding, AI, 3D modelling, cryptography and other complex math calculations workloads) thanks to AVX512 Intel Cannon Lake processor instructions set support

• Up to 80% faster application launch

• Up to 10% faster boot time

• Up to 30% faster suspend operation on the Apple File System (APFS) partition

• Up to 130% more frames per second in Shared Camera mode

• Up to 17% more frames per second in Coherence view mode

A CPU usage indicator has been added to the title bar to give a better understanding of high CPU usage in Windows. Resource Monitor is completely redesigned to show Mac resources along with the impact that multiple virtual machines have on them.

Parallels is a global cross-platform solutions provider that makes it possible for customers to use applications and files they need on any device or operating system.

Details:

Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac, Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac Pro Edition and Parallels Desktop for Mac Business Edition are available for subscribers and upgraders from Parallels Desktop 12 and 13 (parallels.com/upgradepd14), as well as new customers, online at parallels.com/desktop and at local
retail and online stores worldwide.

Free 14-day full-featured trials are also available for download.

The recommended retail price (RRP) of Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac is US$79.99 for an annual subscription or US$99.99 for a perpetual license.

Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition and Business Edition are each available to new customers for US$99.99 per year. Parallels Desktop 12 and 13 perpetual license customers can upgrade to Parallels Desktop 14 for US$49.99, or upgrade to a Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition subscription for US$49.99 per year. Parallels Desktop subscriptions include a complimentary concurrent subscription to Parallels Toolbox for Mac or Windows, as well as Parallels Access.

*Results in virtual disk optimisation will not be immediate after upgrade, as these optimisations happen in the background. Only Windows 8 and 10 are supported.

**Perpetual license.

***Auto mode is available only after the  Parallels Tools update in Windows 8 or Windows 10.

****New Parallels My Account features became available to users before the Parallels Desktop 14 release.

Make marketing more effective with a focus on mobile

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has announced the results of the latest Smart Mobile Cross Marketing Effectiveness (SMoX) study*, which was conducted for The Coca-Cola Company in China earlier this year. Results released at the MMA Shanghai Forum confirm that marketers would significantly improve their overall campaign performance, without increasing budget, by simply raising mobile spend.

According to the study, the optimal spend for mobile is between 8 and 15% of total campaign spend. Conducted in combination with Marketing Evolution and InsightExpress, SMoX assesses the economic value of mobile compared to traditional marketing channels and provides brand marketers with the first empirical evidence on the impact of mobile in the marketing mix. The results from this latest study are consistent with results from other recently released studies in the US with AT&T, Coca-Cola, MasterCard and Walmart.

“Because we strive to develop the world’s most innovative and effective marketing, we knew we had to fully understand and leverage mobile’s ability to drive the future growth of our business,” said Tom Daly, Group Director, Global Connections, at The Coca-Cola Company. “Based on the results for China, as well as the study we conducted in the US, we have begun to see a number of truths about mobile that provide a clear path forward, especially around marketing effectiveness. We now have the facts we needed.”

 Key results include:

 Mobile offered nearly double the ROI over TV and was twice as efficient in driving sales compared to the campaign on average
 Mobile at 8% of total budget drives 7% of the profit and mobile at 15% drives 16%
 Mobile video emerged as significantly more effective compared to both TV and digital video (around 3X).
 Mobile display ads drove purchase intent, while mobile social ads drove both purchase intent and engagement In conclusion, SMoX showed that the optimised mobile spend level is 15%, impacting sales even further and producing a double-digit profit increase.

"The market has acknowledged that there is a deep chasm between consumer behaviour and what brands are currently spending on mobile, but now there is real, indisputable proof on the value of mobile to a brand's business goals," said Greg Stuart, CEO of the MMA. “We applaud Coke for their leadership and commitment to figuring out the true ROI of their marketing spend and aligning to consumers’ dramatic move to mobile for content, community and commerce.” 

Source: MMA. Rohit Dadwal.

The results from China reinforce the findings of the other US SMoX studies—that mobile is a key driver of business results across the entire purchasing funnel. Additionally the SMoX study highlights that mobile when executed with best practices impacts performance even further.

“With empirical data, the SMoX study with Coca-Cola in China demonstrates the impact of mobile on a business and its competitive opportunity in this region, similar to what we have observed in the US—but with even better results,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director of the MMA in Asia Pacific.

“It is a great data set for marketers to reassess and optimise their spending with the most impactful allocations in their marketing mix, while leveraging mobile with double digit spend. As an industry, it is time we learned the effectiveness of the channel to aid marketers with their ambitions, and kept pace with consumers to understand the power of mobile.” 

*SMoX applies Marketing Evolution's cross-media attribution modelling approach, leveraging new techniques to provide a granular read on mobile and other media. Marketing Evolution’s methodology has been independently reviewed by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). 

Three-device users begin to be the norm in Asia Pacific

Source: Appier blog.

Appier, the cross-screen technology provider, has found that users with three devices are setting the trend for multi-device ownership in Asia Pacific.

Nearly 40% of multi-screen users are operating more than three devices, the company said in its Asia Cross-Screen User Behavior Research Report for the first half of 2015, analysing user behaviours across PCs, smartphones, and tablets in ten key Asian markets. Singapore (21.2%), Australia (20.8%) and the Philippines (20.8%) boast the highest percentage of three-device users, while Japan (32.7%) and Taiwan (25.7%) claim the biggest percentage of multi-device users operating more than four devices. 

"We are fully aware that the vast majority of marketers are no longer approaching cross-screen and cross-platform advertising as an option, but rather as a top priority," said Chih-Han Yu, CEO and co-founder of Appier. "Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and data analysis, Appier's cross-screen user behaviour research report fleshes out the multi-screen landscape in Asia while also pointing out where the scale of screens and receptivity come into play."

Key findings include:

Greater complexity in cross-screen user behaviour

Forty-three percent* of multi-screen users in Asia exhibit vastly different behaviours on different devices, up from 38% in the second half of 2014.

Golden Wednesdays

The highest usage across devices and the highest number of reachable unique devices was generally recorded on Wednesdays. In the meantime, Mondays, Tuesdays and Sundays were all good days for advertisers to pique the interest of active users, keeping in mind that males are more active than their female counterparts across devices.

Mid-size devices and Android OS grab the spotlight

In 1H 2015, mid-size smartphones (3.8'' to 4.8") and tablets (9.7") dominated the market in terms of usage. Android was still the winner in mobile operating systems, despite losing some of its share to iOS comparing to 2H 2014.

Different ad formats play different roles on different screen sizes

In most Asian markets, high conversion rates for online ads occurred on devices with high click-through rates (CTRs). User preference for banners and interstitial ads varied depending on the size of the screen and the device used.

Interested?

Download the full report 

*The report is based on data from Appier campaigns ran in the first half of 2015 in ten markets including Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Some 490 billion data points from the Appier database were analysed.