In a letter from the Chief Commercial Officer of WorldRemit in London Tamer El-Emary, he claimed that fintech leaders are gaining momentum in the southern hemisphere. He also referred to China as a hotbed of technological innovation and a good source of financial services.
El-Emary, who worked for a global payments business, suggested that fintech leaders are rising globally and are gaining more momentum in the southern hemisphere regions. He claimed that Brazilian digital bank Nubank already caters to 15 million customers in October 2019 alone. He also mentioned Interswitch who also became Africa's second best-performing entity of its kind by November of 2019.
He then hinted that fintech companies who operate in the northern hemisphere such as China would need to find bridges in working across southern hemisphere geographies. He then added that the opportunity could mean good business for Chinese fintech firms who provide the kind of services.
In other news, Payments Source reported that such has been initiated upon the first approval for Amex in China. It had been operating as a card payments service in China since 2018. Moreover, it formed a joint venture with Chinese fintech LianLian in building a network within a domestic setting as a part of the approval.
It was also mentioned that card payments giants MasterCard and Visa had been attempting to get payment licenses in China. However, after three years of trying, they have not been granted the licenses. MasterCard, as the report highlighted, allegedly made a second attempt back in 2019 when China announced it would be welcoming outside payment companies within that year.
According to Senior Vice President of Communications for MasterCard Seth Eisen, China is a significant market for the brand and that they would continue making efforts in acquiring a card payments license. He also added that the company is hoping to operate in China domestically.
Among US payments, Amex and PayPal had been operating within the country and better positioned than MasterCard and Visa. It was highlighted that PayPal acquired 70 percent of GoPay; a Chinese fintech firm that owns a license to process digital payments, cross-border transactions, and issuance of debit cards in China.
It was also mentioned that UnionPay, the leading card payments company in China, would likely be the preferred method in the country although PayPal had partnered with a Chinese fintech firm. According to the director of the commercial and enterprise payments advisor group at Mercator Steve Murphy, China may still open doors for US payment companies who offer digitizing supply chain transactions.
