HSBC's online payment platform has just reached a major milestone, bolstered mainly by a surge in online transactions amid the coronavirus pandemic. With most brick and mortar outlets closed to mitigate the spread of the disease, consumers had been forced to utilize payment platforms such as HSBC's PayMe service to conduct their online transactions.
According to HSBC, its digital payment platform had officially reached the 2 million-user mark last week. The company stated that it had gained a 25 percent surge in new users since the start of the year, the biggest jump since the company launched the service in 2017.
The growth in new users also reflected a similar amount of growth in 10 other digital payment platforms, utilizing Hong Kong's faster payment system (FPS). The system, which is regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), reportedly experienced a three-fold surge in transactions this year.
PayMe's head and managing director, Kerry Wong-Chu Po-yin, mentioned in an interview that the above-average growth in new users occurred during the months of shelter-in-place orders and lockdowns to prevent the further spread of the pandemic. The platform was used by consumers for various transactions that ranged from settling utility bills to paying for online social games such as poker and mahjong.
The surge in new users on the platform did come at a steep price and HSBC's success can be described best as being bitter-sweet. The company initially recorded a massive surge in the use of its digital payment platforms after civil unrest in Hong Kong had escalated last year. Traditional ATMs and bank branches became targets of attacks, which had forced consumers to use electronic platforms for their essential transactions.
As the pandemic started to spread, more people in the mainland and Hong Kong were forced to work from home. This further drove the number of consumers who had no choice but to rely on digital platforms. PayMe revealed that it had recorded massive amounts of transactions during the past few months, with some merchants selling medical supplies making 15,000 to 40,000 transactions per day at the peak of the crisis.
According to the HKMA, the use of digital payments has gradually increased over the past decade, reaching nearly $2 trillion in 2018. Almost half of those transactions were conducted in the Asia-Pacific region. In Hong Kong, the 11 digital payment platform operators reported a combined 8.9 million transactions last year.
HSBC's PayMe service is currently Hong Kong's largest e-wallet business based on the total value of peer-to-peer transactions. For the fourth quarter last year, transactions made through the platform accounted for about 70 percent of the HK$7.92 billion transfers made through all digital platforms.
