E-payment options on the rise as pandemic triggers fears

A huge surge in the adoption of digital payments in Southeast Asia has been triggered by the pandemic, with more people opting for contactless payments due to safety and hygiene concerns.

Tim Lee Ying-ho, co-founder of QFPay, a digital payments solution provider based in Beijing, said, "Many companies in Southeast Asia have adopted working-from-home arrangements, which have led to the emergence of digital scenarios such as food deliveries, online entertainment and online shopping."

For example, when Singapore enforced a "circuit breaker" order on April 7, many employees were required to operate from home when most workplaces were closed.

"As consumption in such scenarios is conducted online, the use of e-wallets has risen quite significantly," Lee said.

Founded in 2011, QFPay has connected with more than 160 payment methods worldwide, the majority of them e-wallets and digital payment platforms in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

Sensing rising demand during the pandemic, QFPay launched Remote Pay, a digital payment service that allows offline businesses to generate orders easily and collect payments through an online link without the need to set up e-commerce stores.

It is also partnering with the e-commerce platform Shopify to help merchants in Asia operate online during the pandemic. In China, the service was introduced in Hong Kong in August and is expected to be expanded to Singapore and Malaysia by the end of this year, Lee said.

According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, nearly 50 percent of urban consumers in Southeast Asia who have accounts with commercial banks are already using e-wallets.

Karen S. Puah, vice-president of the FinTech Association of Malaysia, said governments have played an important role in the growth of digital payments in the region.

For example, the Malaysian administration launched an initiative as part of its Short-Term Economic Recovery Plan to encourage consumer spending through contactless payment.

By downloading MySejahtera, the government's COVID-19 contact-tracing app, users can receive credits worth 50 ringgit ($12), which can be spent through selected e-wallet service providers.

By the end of last month, 495.4 million ringgit has been channeled to nearly 9.9 million users, Puah said.

Singapore Fintech Association President Chia Hock Lai said the city-state is also providing direct incentives to encourage e-payments during the pandemic.

For instance, an e-payment bonus of up to $1,500 is being given to vendors who have shown sustained use of a unified QR code for 19 payment plans.

Even before the pandemic emerged, Chia said the Singaporean government had standardized the digital payments infrastructure. As part of the Payment Services Act, which took effect in January, it also updated a regulation covering the use of modern innovations, including cryptocurrencies.

However, Chia said Southeast Asia still faces challenges in further developing digital payments, including data privacy, cybersecurity, online fraud, digital identities and a reliable digital infrastructure, including stable internet connections.

QFPay's Lee said: "The digital payment scene in Southeast Asia is similar to what it was in China back in 2015-16. There are many e-wallets on the market and some consumers are using them, but the frequency of this and the coverage rate are not very high."

Lee said a key feature of the region's digital payment market is that there is no dominant player.

"E-wallets are often backed by internet startups, telecom operators, governments and banks. In one country alone, there could be 10 to 20 e-wallet service providers, each of them having their own market," he added.