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Cashless Asia Forum

Future proofing and revolutionizing the region's payment landscape, innovation and customer experience

23-24 September 2019

Shangri-la's Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa, Singapore

marcus evans Pan Asian

An interview with Johnny Ang,  Regional Senior Director, Innovation and Partnership, APAC, Wirecard Labs , Singapore

More than 20 hours of focused case studies

• Enhancing the timeliness of digital payment clearance with Global Payments Innovation (GPI)
• Integrating payment merchants, vendors, and systems with unified POS and smart POS
• Alleviating credit risk with fraud detection and machine learning capabilities
• Maximising seamless experience in a transparent yet integrated digital platform
• Scaling potential of transaction speeds and capacity with blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
• Strengthening security for digital payments with multi-layered gateway defense
• Transforming businesses to adopt and implement cashless initiatives
• Leveraging open banking and open retailing challenges towards holistic cashless innovation
• Extracting key insights from a surge of payment data

Practical insights from active practitioners in your sector

Nicholas Lee 
CEO
EZ-Link, Singapore 

Krishnan Rajagopalan 
Director of Payments
APAC Netflix, Singapore 

Vikas Rajpal 
VP, Product Management
Mastercard, Singapore 

Varsha Jagdale 
SVP, Head of Payments
Lazada, Singapore 

Amaresh Mohan 
Regional Director, Financial Risk Management APAC
PayPal, Singapore 

Manoj Sugathan 
Senior Director – Chip, Contactless and Transit
Visa, Singapore 

For registration pricing and multiple attendee discounts, please contact:

Bernardine Michael 
BernardineM@marcusevanskl.com 

Ahead of the Cashless Asia Forum , we spoke to Johnny on the digital payment and transaction sphere for a single platform to discuss up-to-date trends and challenges. Wide adoption of mobile devices and the vast availability of mobile internet in Asia have provided both enterprises and consumers the solutions to their challenges. While most industries are penetrating into the mobile market, the question now is, how prepared is your business for a payments game based more on data than cash?

In a recent statistic, cash and cheques still account for 40% of Singapore payments, while neighbouring countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand are also on the verge to encourage the cashless agenda. There is still high cash dependency in the region and the reluctance to change is hindering the national cashless vision. What is your feedback?

Asia is well positioned to lead globally in digital payments, as the first region to ubiquitously implement electronic payments in almost every aspect of daily activities – from transportation to shopping. From addressing market readiness, prioritising business needs and relevance to driving innovation – no one customer or market is the same when it comes to payment implementation.

One of the many reasons why consumers and in many cases, corporations are not venturing the idea of going cashless is due to the fear of privacy and data leakage and cyber attacks. How do you think this situation has evolved and how has your organisation countered this challenge?

Well reputed and established for supporting the world’s largest players and small businesses alike, Wirecard empowers customers with the confidence and capabilities to digitalize payments processes. However, this integration comes with its own challenges, nuances and disparities across countries in the region. As such, there is a need for a trusted, consultative and visionary partner to navigate the challenges and opportunities of the digital economy both regionally and globally.

In Singapore alone there are up to 30 e-wallets and more than 40 in Malaysia. While this is a clear sign that the economy is driven towards going cashless, most companies face the challenge of reinstating the value proposition of their services due to the number of players in the market and the choice consumers get to decide on. What is your feedback on this?

Wirecard enable cross-border payments, connecting payment solutions across geographies. We envisage that physical card will replace digital cards or e-wallets and we were the first company to issue a digital credit card in 2006.

Creation of fully digitalised payment processes which no longer require any manual input: This has been done for companies like Orange Cash, Singtel or ReiseBank through the development of fully digital app solutions.

Through our platform, we offer innovative processes in issuing and acquiring for all sales channels (online, mobile and ePos) as well as digital value-added services such as risk management and data analysis helps merchants improve their conversation rate

Long gone are the days for consumers who favour making physical transactions. Millennials today are mostly experience driven and would thrive to achieve convenience when making payments. Do you think the consumer payment experience should come in first in priority or are there more important factors?

Yes, the payment ecosystem continues to accelerate and evolve, Wirecard continues to commit to innovation, talent and growth to enable and enhance digital payment experiences while advancing the vision and possibilities of state-of-the-art technology.

Payment providers often face the chicken and egg situation whereby the number of merchants using their services affects the number of users who would be keen and driven to subscribe to it. What strategies have worked for you, especially launching a new digital payment platform in the market?

Wirecard is a holistic digital payment platform, which offers a continuously expanding ecosystem of real-time value added services to increase the commercial success of customers of all sizes all around the world.

Our global multi-channel platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods, supplemented by fraud prevention solutions. The digital platform enables companies, merchants and retailers the ability to connect online and offline experiences as well as it can embedded into the operations and supply chain of a company. The platform can also be adapted and customised according to each client’s organisational needs.

Most companies especially financial institutions in the region are supporting the cashless initiative due to a lower management costs on cash. Is this a proven success for your organisation/business?

More governments in Asia are exploring how they can drive the digital economies in their respective countries – much of that emphasis is centered around electronic/digital payments.

With our innovative payment platform, Wirecard offers merchants who still use analogue till systems the opportunity to digitalize their shopping processes at the point of sale. In doing so, merchants are not obliged to switch over from their existing infrastructure. Above all, our values are intrinsically linked to our business model, and this model’s success is based on security, reliability and trust.

Customers include:

Financial Services: Bendigo Bank, ASB Bank, BNI Negara Indonesia, Bank Mandiri, Mizuho Bank, CIMB, RHB Bank, UOB, OCBC

Merchant Services: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Discover/Diners, UnionPay