Fintech Goes International For Mobile Wallets, BNPL & BaaS

What’s happened: Alipay+ and Thunes, an international cross-border financial technology company, have collaborated to develop a new payment solution.

Why it matters: ?Alipay+ already runs a number of international payment and marketing solutions through its parent company, Ant Group. The partnership with Thunes means that Alipay+ will be able to connect with Thune's consumers and businesses in Europe, who are now willing to accept Asia's most well-liked mobile wallets. Mobile wallets are becoming the main way that people in Asia pay for goods and services, and with the steady recovery of international tourism, this solution is likely to be in high demand.

What’s happened: Buy Now Pay Later boom comes to Japan thanks to Tokyo-based fintech Smartpay. The company is at the intersection of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and account-to-account (A2A) transactions, which are two of the biggest areas of focus in the fintech sector around the world.

Why it matters: Over 60% of transactions in Japan use cash at the moment, which is pretty unusual for such a tech-focussed culture. Smartpay is still fairly young, founded in June 2021, and is focussing on middle to high income users. Smartpay wants to give people in Japan several different ways to pay, so it can take some of the cash market share. Sam Ahmed, the company's chief executive officer, feels that the app's intuitive user interface design is one of its greatest selling advantages. Smartpay spent three years analyzing the performance of BNPL in other areas and developing scalable, commercially viable methods.

What’s happened: In a recent survey, more than half (51%) of the European business leaders surveyed think that traditional banking will become obsolete because of banking-as-a-service (BaaS).

Why it matters: Vodeno, a provider of banking-as-a-service, and Aion, a digital bank, polled more than 1,000 business leaders in the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Data showed that 51% of business leaders think that BaaS will kill traditional banking. 56% more think that the current crisis in the cost of living will push people to use BaaS. There is opportunity for real growth here, as a quarter of those surveyed (24%) want their BaaS provider to show that they have a better understanding of their customer journey.

Summary Thoughts: 79 currencies are currently supported by Thunes, which was established in 2016 and allows for payments to 130 countries. Online shoppers from Asian markets will now be able to use Alipay+ to make purchases using their mobile wallets when checking out. This represents a huge expansion to their market share in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and now Asia.

Smartpay boasts an impressive C-suite. The fintech is run by experts who have worked at Standard Chartered Bank, Facebook, Stripe, Adyen, and Mastercard in the past. Investors like Global Founders Capital, Matrix Partners, and SMBC VC have also put money into the company. The company is Japan's first to offer digital consumer finance services that work with both credit cards and direct debit.

Vodeno and Aion’s survey showed that 39% of respondents are already using services and products from BaaS, and another 38% are thinking about using BaaS this year. The most popular uses for BaaS were for foreign exchange, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), lending to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), and loyalty programs. But not everyone had a positive view. Almost a third of respondents (29%) said they didn't know enough about the products available, and 27% said they were worried about compliance and security.

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