UnionPay International Targets Growth in Contactless Payment Adoption by Smaller Merchants in Southeast Asia

KUALA LUMPUR,Malaysia,Dec.21,2021 -- UnionPay International (UPI) has introduced its SoftPOS (Point-of-Sale) solution for the first time using a payment technology powered by the world's leading SoftPOS player Soft Space.

The SoftPOS solution to be launched in Malaysiais expected to create greater market opportunities for UPI to grow its contactless acceptance,particularly in Southeast Asia,adding to its already considerable acceptance across 180 countries and regions globally.

The solution will enable UPI to offer its SoftPOS solution to merchants of all sizes – especially small medium enterprises (SMEs) – simplicity and convenience. This UPI SoftPOS solution,a first for UPI and to be launched in Malaysia,transforms consumer-grade NFC Android smartphones with near-field communication (NFC) into a secure,easy-to-use payment terminal in order to accept contactless UnionPay transactions.

"UPI's vision is to always push new boundaries in payment innovation. We are very pleased to be able to partner a leading Fintech player like Soft Space to lead the rollout of this cutting-edge technology," said Huiming Cai,General Manager,UnionPay International Southeast Asia. "This bold step we took to make this happen will serve as a model and a stepping-stone towards UPI's aspiration to further innovate throughout the region."

"We applaud UPI for taking a step forward in innovating their contactless acceptance with us,leading them to introduce SoftPOS acceptance in Malaysia," said Joel Tay,the Chief Executive Officer of Soft Space. "We believe the introduction of UPI SoftPOS will be a boon as more than 50%[1] of card transactions are already contactless today."

According to SME Corporation Malaysia,SMEs make up of 97.2% of Malaysia's economy in 2020[2]and this makes Malaysia an ideal location for UPI to grow its contactless acceptance.

As part of the launch,UPI is working with AmBank Group to utilise its existing SoftPOS solution,"mTAP," to encourage smaller merchants,which may be hesitant to adopt contactless payments due to the high cost and the inconvenience associated with traditional payment terminals. UPI's SoftPOS solution will soon be available at J's Gate Dining,a Japanese food dining complex in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

"mTAP benefits both SMEs and consumers. The solution is viable and cost-effective which can encourage more SMEs to accept card payments. At the same time,consumers are able to gain access to smarter and innovative financial services. This effort will further strengthen our SME-in-a-Box value proposition which includes attractive deposit,loan,transactional and protection products amongst others. SMEs that wish to open an account with AmBank can do so easily through our digital app,AmAccessBiz,or by going to any of our 170 branches nationwide," said Aaron Loo,Managing Director,Retail Banking,AmBank.

Developed based on Soft Space's Fasstap solution,the UPI SoftPOS demonstrates Fasstap's competency and compatibility that meet all of UPI's stringent payment acceptance standards.

Fasstap is Soft Space's proprietary payment solution,which was introduced as the world's first PIN-based SoftPOS solution in 2018[3]. It has since received endorsement from major card schemes and deployed to some of the largest financial service institutions and corporate enterprises in Asia Pacific,North America,Europe,and the Middle East.

[1]Bank Negara Malaysia Annual Report 2020

https://www.bnm.gov.my/documents/20124/3026128/ar2020_en_book.pdf

[2]Economic Census 2016 – Profile of SMEs https://www.smecorp.gov.my/index.php/en/policies/2020-02-11-08-01-24/sme-statistics

[3]Businesses can Accept MyDebit Card Payments Using Only Mobile Phoneshttps://paynet.my/press-release/2018/PayNet-Fasstap-Pilot-Launch.pdf

About UnionPay International

UnionPay International (UPI) focuses on the international business of UnionPay. In partnership with over 2,400 institutions worldwide,UnionPay International has enabled card acceptance in 180 countries and regions with issuance in 70 countries and regions. UPI provides high quality,cost effective and secure cross-border payment services to the world's largest Cardholder base and ensures convenient local services to a growing number of global UnionPay Cardholders and merchants.

In Malaysia,UnionPay cards are widely accepted at ATMs and POS terminals all over the country. UPI works with Bank of China (Malaysia),Boost,GoPayz,Huawei,Industrial and Commercial Bank of China,Public Bank,and Sarawak Pay to offer a wide range of payment products ranging from physical cards,virtual cards,QR Code to mobile payment and more. For more information,visitwww.unionpayintl.com/my.

About Soft Space

Founded in 2012,Soft Space is the world's leading SoftPOS player headquartered in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. Soft Space simplifies the complexity of financial infrastructure and creates value-added features for businesses to expand their business growth. With over 30 financial institutions across 10 countries adopting its payment solutions,Soft Space is supported by MDEC's Global Acceleration and Innovation Network (GAIN) programme and received financial support through MIDA's Domestic Investment Strategic Fund in 2012. In 2018,Soft Space ranked 66th out of 1000 companies in Financial Times 'FT 1000: High Growth Companies in Asia Pacific' Special Report. Subsequently in 2020,Soft Space is also recognised as one of IDC's Fastest Growing Company in 2020.

For more information,please visit: https://www.softspace.com.my/

About AmBank Group

AmBank Group is a leading financial services group with over 40 years of expertise in supporting the economic development of Malaysia. We have over three million customers and employ over 9,000 people. The Group was listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia in 1988. It is the sixth-largest banking group by assets in Malaysia,with a market capitalisation of around RM9 billion and assets of RM169.2 billion as at 31 March 2020. AmBank Group serves over three million individual and corporate customers. It provides services in wholesale banking,retail banking,business banking,investment banking and related financial services which include Islamic banking,underwriting of general insurance,stock and share broking,futures broking,investment advisory and management services in assets,real estate investment trust and unit trusts.

For more information,please visit www.ambankgroup.com