JCB sponsors Singapore’s one of the largest countdown event

TOKYO & SINGAPORE, Sep 20, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – JCB Co., Ltd. ("JCB"), Japan's only international payment brand, will sponsor STAR ISLAND SINGAPORE COUNTDOWN EDITION 2022-2023 Presented by JCB ("STAR ISLAND"), which will be held by Avex Asia Pte. Ltd. ("Avex Asia"), subsidiary wholly owned by Avex Entertainment Inc., from December 25 to December 31 2022.



STAR ISLAND is a fireworks musical show from Japan that perfectly interfuses Japan's traditional fireworks with immersive audio experience, lights, and performance acts, all of which are performed in a spectacular location. It was held in conjunction with the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown in 2018, one of the largest countdown events in Asia, supported by the Singapore Government. This year's show is held for the first time in three years due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

For more information about STAR ISLAND: http://www.starisland.sg/

In 2019, before the COVID-19 Pandemic, approximately more than 19.1 million visitors[1] annually traveled to Singapore from overseas, including approximately 880,000 annual travelers[2] from Japan, which hit a record high. However, the number of travelers to Singapore in 2021 significantly decreased to approximately 330,000 (of which, approximately 6,000 travelers from Japan) due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

This event, STAR ISLAND, will be held with the aim of achieving the recovery of not only travel and tourism within Singapore but also inbound travel and tourism to Singapore from its neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam where JCB Cards are issued, and from other countries such as Japan.

JCB, which has been working to increase the number of JCB merchants in Singapore since 1991, decided to sponsor this event in order to encourage JCB Cardmembers, issuers and merchants in Singapore, a country who is the driving force in the overall ASEAN market, to become familiar with the JCB brand and understand its value, in addition to supporting travel to Singapore and its recovery.

Event Outline
– Date: Sunday, 25 December to Saturday, 31 December 2022
– Place: Marina Bay area event venue, The Float at Marina Bay (Singapore)
– Official website: http://www.starisland.sg/
– Organizer: Avex Asia Pte. Ltd., Avex Entertainment Inc.
– Sponsors: Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore Tourism Board
Note: The event outline and production details may be subject to change. Please check the official website for details.

About Avex Asia Pte. Ltd.

Avex Asia Pte. Ltd. organizes and holds live music events and anime-related events mainly in Asia as the Asian headquarters of Avex Group. Moreover, it also rolls out license businesses using not only IPs[3] held by Avex but also various IPs.

About JCB

JCB is a major global payment brand and a leading credit card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. Its acceptance network includes about 39 million merchants around the world. JCB Cards are now issued mainly in Asian countries and territories, with more than 140 million cardmembers. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase its merchant coverage and cardmember base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to providing responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.global.jcb/en/

[1] Singapore Tourism Board
[2] Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)
[3] IP stands for Intellectual Properties. In the field of entertainment, music, artists, television personalities, animes, video works, games, characters and others are referred to as IPs.

Contact
Ayaka Nakajima
Corporate Communications
Tel: +81-3-5778-8353
Email: jcb-pr@jcb.co.jp

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

The Philippines’ Payments, E-Commerce & Banking Leaders to Gather Live Online this September to Chart the Future of Commerce

MANILA, Sep 15, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Seamless Philippines returns live online this 28-29 September, gathering over 1,200 attendees virtually to explore the latest innovations in the Philippines across the payments, e-commerce and banking sectors.

"With digital payments and ePayments in the Philippines forecast to account for 50% of transactions by 2023, also fuelling growth in e-commerce, there's no doubt that the Philippines is an exciting market," says Paul Clark, Managing Director – Asia for Terrapinn. "Over the last two years, these sectors have been at the forefront of innovation – now it's time to make sure they are positioning themselves for a post-pandemic era and securing their future growth. Seamless Philippines offers them exactly that, without even having to leave their home or office."

Seamless Philippines will bring together over 60 expert speakers across four key content pillars: payments innovation, e-commerce strategy, e-commerce marketing and banking. Attendees will enjoy free access to all sessions on the platform, and all sessions will be available for on-demand viewing for one month after the event, truly offering attendees a chance to fit the event around their own schedule. Speakers at the event include:

– Arvie De Vera, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, UnionDigital Bank
– Justin Rafael Francisco, Managing Partner, Great Deals E-Commerce Corp
– Greg Krasnov, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Tonik Bank
– Christopher Bennett, Chief Technology Officer, GOtyme
– Maria Gaitanidou, Chief Launch Officer, UnionDigital Bank
– Mich Lim, Ecommerce Head, Robinsons Appliances
– Rogelio Umali, Chief Technology Officer, GoodBank
– Alvin Heinrich Chan, Digital Payments Lead, Philippine Seven Corp
– Michael Magbanua, SVP, Group Head of Operations & Shared Services, Union Bank of the Philippines
– Joanne Barbara De Jesus, AVP, Tribe Lead – Digital, ING Philippines
– Johdel Ocampo, AVP ? Digital Strategies & Retail Journey, Metrobank
– Timothy Cu, Head of Quick Commerce, Sarisuki
– Glenn Richmond Ong, Director, Customer Experience, Cebu Pacific
– Gus Poston, Chief Executive Officer, Netbank
– Kevin Codamon, Head of Digital Technology, McDonalds Philippines

More than 20 sponsors, exhibitors & partners are supporting this year?s virtual edition of Seamless Asia, including Platinum Sponsors Edgio, Sift and Sompo Holdings. All sponsors & exhibitors will be hosting a virtual booth on the platform for attendees to find out more about their products and services, and interact directly with their teams.

For event information and full conference agenda, visit www.terrapinn.com/SeamlessPhilippines2022

About Terrapinn:

Terrapinn has been sparking ideas, innovations and relationships that transform business for over 30 years. Using our global footprint, we bring innovators, disrupters and change agents together, discussing and demonstrating the technology, strategies and personalities that are changing the way the world does business. Whether you?re looking to make new connections, introduce product or inspire change in your industry, we invite you to join us as agitators of change. Terrapinn – spark something.

Press attendance is complimentary. Enquiries should be directed to:
Jia Le Lim
Marketing Manager
Terrapinn Asia
jiale.lim@terrapinn.com

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Yeahka (09923.HK) share price rises 4.45%, Major brokers grant “Buy” rating

HONG KONG, Sep 6, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Yeahka Limited ("Yeahka" or the "Company", Stock Code: 9923), a leading payment-based technology platform in China, increased by 4.45% and closed at HK$17.86 per share. Its share price climbed by about 30% in the past five trading days.

Yeahka recently announced its FY2022 interim results. For the six months ended 30 June 2022, the Company's revenue was RMB1,642 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 17.07%. Gross profit rose 52.05% year-over-year to RMB529 million. The company's gross payment value ("GPV") reached RMB1.06 trillion, up 7.4% year-over-year. The gross merchandise value ("GMV") of its in-store e-commerce services and the number of paying consumers was nearly RMB1.4 billion and 9.7 million, respectively, representing a year-over-year increase of 1,789.7% and 578.9%, respectively. The number of monthly active users ("MAU") exceeded 19.0 million during the reporting period.

At the same time, Yeahka also disclosed the news of its share repurchase, stating that pursuant to a resolution passed by the shareholders of the Company at the annual general meeting held on June 24, 2022, the Directors were granted a general unconditional mandate to repurchase up to 45.1903 million shares. On September 5, Yeahka spent HK$4.955 million on the repurchase of 292,000 shares at a repurchase price of HK$16.74-17.08 per share. This is a relatively rare move among small and medium-sized technology companies and shows that the management is extremely confident in the Company's future performance growth.

In view of its outstanding interim results and the management's expectations for the Company's future growth, Nomura and CLSA both upgraded their ratings to "Buy". Nomura published a research report stating that its interim performance was solid, with revenue increasing by 17% year-over-year, mainly driven by strong growth in its payment business and in-store business. As of the market close today, more than a dozen institutions, including CICC, Guosheng Securities, GF Securities, and China Securities International, have all given the Company a "Buy" rating, which further demonstrates the investment value of Yeahka.

About YEAHKA LIMITED (Stock Code: 9923.HK)
Yeahka is a leading payment-based technology platform dedicated to creating value for merchants and consumers. Our goal is to build an independent and scalable commercial digitalized ecosystem to enable seamless, convenient, and reliable payment services to merchants and consumers, and to further expand into serving merchants and consumers with our diversified product portfolio, which now includes (i) in-store e-commerce services, providing consumers with local lifestyle services of great value, and (ii) merchant solutions, enabling merchants to better manage and drive business growth.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Jefferies maintains Buy rating on Yeahka(09923.HK)

HONG KONG, Sep 2, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Yeahka, the leading payment-based technology platform in China announced its 2022 interim results in late August. During the period, total revenue climbed 17.1% to RMB1,641.8 million, gross profit rose 52.1% to RMB529.3 million, and gross margin increased from 24.8% to 32.2%.

"Yeahka's 1H revenue and adjusted EBITDA beat our estimates. Management highlighted multi-channels strategies to embrace in-store e-commerce opportunities and reaffirmed full-year GMV guidance. We expect it to maintain fast growth trend in 2023 due to the huge addressable market ahead. We revise our payment volume assumptions in 2H due to the recent resurgence of the pandemic and estimate take-rate to be better than expected for the full year." Jefferies says in its newly released research report.

Jefferies emphasizes that Yeahka is one of the 16 payment service providers with a national bank card acquiring license and mobile phone payment license from the PBOC, which currently has 7.3m active payment service merchants. The payment business provides traffic, merchants and data insights to Yeahka, in particular payment and online marketing services. Backed by its merchants and consumer networks in payment, Yeahka adds value to merchants through SaaS products in digitization, online marketing through DSP platform and fintech services.

According to the report, Jefferies maintains its Buy rating with PT of HKD21 on Yeahka based on PEG. It applies a 10% discount to PEG due to uncertainties of macro headwinds and pandemic outbreak, factoring in the recent business developments with a focus on GPV and customer growth, while the support to merchants and investments in new initiatives are important for the long term.


Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

BoB Financial and Snapdeal Launch Co-Branded JCB RuPay Contactless Credit Card

MUMBAI, INDIA, Sep 2, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Snapdeal in partnership with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and JCB International Co. Ltd. have announced the launch of the Snapdeal BoB JCB RuPay Credit Card. The card is designed keeping in mind the purchase behaviour of shopping enthusiasts and will offer a host of attractive benefits and rewards. The card will also be usable at international merchants and ATMs through the extensive JCB global network.

Users of the co-branded credit card will receive up to 5% unlimited cashback (accrued as 20 reward points on every INR 100 spent) on the Snapdeal app and website. Activation of the co-branded credit card within 30 days of issuance will entitle the cardholder to shopping benefits on Snapdeal worth up to INR 500.

The card also offers 10 reward points per INR 100 spent on online, grocery and departmental store spends. For purchases in all other categories, customers will get 4 reward points for every INR 100 spent. The cardholders will also enjoy free Add-On cards for family members, waiver of 1% fuel surcharge, easy EMI options (pre and post purchase), and periodic offers across merchants.

Commenting on the partnership, Shailendra Singh, MD & CEO, BOB Financial said, "We are happy to launch our co-branded credit card with Snapdeal, in partnership with NPCI, at a time when both new customer acquisition as well as usage from smaller cities and towns continue to grow at an impressive pace. The challenges brought about by the pandemic have resulted in a rapid adoption of digital payments even in interior locations of the country. Our co-branded credit card will offer additional value to this large segment of customers that constitute Bharat!".

Himanshu Chakrawarti, President, Snapdeal Limited said, "Snapdeal's target audience is the value-savvy, mid-income, price-conscious buyers who predominantly live in the smaller cities of India. The partnership between BOB Financial, NPCI and Snapdeal brings together parties with a deep understanding of this mega-segment of consumers and how they are evolving in terms of their use of technology and digital payments. Our co-branded card is another important step in offering additional value to our users."

Ms. Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI said, "We are happy to associate with BOB Financial and Snapdeal for the launch of the distinctive co-branded JCB RuPay Contactless Credit Card. We believe that this proposition will appeal strongly to millions of Snapdeal and BOB Financial's customers at large by offering them a unique and rewarding experience. At NPCI, we are strategically focussing on creating a wide array of offerings in the credit segment for the customers to experience delightful and memorable retail as well as e-commerce shopping."

Mr. Yoshiki Kaneko, President and COO, JCB International Co. Ltd. said, "We are extremely excited to partner with BFSL and Snapdeal through our esteemed network partner RuPay. This product, besides offering great value and benefits within India, comes with unique benefits and privileges internationally. This includes access to exclusive JCB in-city lounges at many key international travel destinations and special discounts exclusively for JCB cardmembers at many international merchants. We are sure the cardmembers will enjoy the benefits of carrying this card with them wherever they go."

About BOB Financial Solutions Limited

BOB Financial Solutions Limited was established in the year 1994. It is a Non-Banking Financial Company, wholly owned by Bank of Baroda. The Company's primary business is in credit cards with its key differentiator being simple, easy-to-understand products that are fairly priced and efficiently serviced. A pioneer in the space of credit cards, BOB Financial offers an array of products catering to all segments of customers. It is leveraging state-of-the-art technology to provide unique payment solutions to its customers. For more information, visit www.bobfinancial.com

Media contact for BFSL:
Ashutosh Kumar
9811174731
ashutosh.kumar@bobfinancial.com

About Snapdeal

Snapdeal is one of India's best known e-commerce companies and has an exclusive focus on the value segment with more than 90% of the products on its platform priced under Rs. 1,000. Snapdeal as a brand is synonymous with value e-commerce: good quality, trendy and affordably priced products that fulfill the aspirational needs of value-conscious buyers. Over the last several years, the company has enhanced its expertise in catering to the value segment of the Indian e- commerce market, comprising mid-income users who have a budget-led approach to spending and access the Internet primarily through their mobile phones. Snapdeal receives more than 86% of its orders from outside metro cities, with more than 72% of its orders coming from buyers living in Tier 2+ cities & towns. It covers 96.65% of India's pin codes and has served buyers from more than 2,500 cities. Founded in 2007 as a coupon booklet business, it transformed itself into an e-commerce deals platform in 2010. Subsequently, it launched the Snapdeal e-commerce marketplace in 2012.

About JCB

JCB is a major global payment brand and a leading credit card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. JCB issues cards across various countries and regions internationally with more than 140 million cardmembers. JCB Cards are accepted at tens of millions of merchants globally through its vast acceptance network. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase its merchant coverage and cardmember base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to providing responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.global.jcb/en

Media contact for JCB
Ayaka Nakajima
Corporate Communications
Tel: +81-3-5778-8353
Email: jcb-pr@jcb.co.jp

About NPCI

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. NPCI has created a robust payment and settlement infrastructure in the country. It has changed the way payments are made in India through a bouquet of retail payment products such as RuPay card, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), BHIM Aadhaar, National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC Fastag) and Bharat BillPay.

NPCI is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through the use of technology and is relentlessly working to transform India into a digital economy. It is facilitating secure payments solutions with nationwide accessibility at minimal cost in furtherance of India's aspiration to be a fully digital society. For more information, visit: https://www.npci.org.in/

Media contact:
Shruti Singh
9654497747
shruti.singh@npci.org.in

Priyanka Chavda
9619378489
priyanka.chavda@npci.org.in

Adfactors PR
Banali Banerjee/Pragya Sahay
9769610385/7982347652
banali.banerjee@adfactorspr.com / pragya.sahay@adfactorspr.com

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Yeahka Announces 2022 Interim Results

HONG KONG, Aug 30, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Yeahka Limited ("Yeahka" or the "Company", Stock Code: 9923), a leading payment-based technology platform in China, is pleased to announce the interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2022 (the "period" or "1H 2022").

Financial Highlights
— During the period, the Company's total revenue reached RMB1,641.8 million, representing a year-over-year (YoY) increase of 17.1%.
— Gross profit during the period rose 52.1% YoY to RMB529.3 million, gross margin increased from 24.8% to 32.2%, gross profit contribution from non-payment business was 50%.
— Adjusted EBITDA amounted to RMB69.7million, increased by 39.7% compared with the second half of 2021.
— Gross profit of in-store e-commerce services reached RMB92.3million, gross margin reached 57.1%, increased by 76.9% and 6.6 percentage points respectively, compared with the second half of 2021.

Operational Highlights
Number of users and scale of one-stop payment services continued to grow:
— Total gross payment value ("GPV") of the payment services reached RMB1.06 trillion, up 7.4% YoY;
— The number of active payment service merchants increased 24.1% YoY to a historical high of 7.6 million;
— The number of cities covered exceeded 300 nationwide;
— The number of partnership banks increased to nearly 100; the number of independent sales agents in our network reached nearly 16,000; and the number of application programming interface (API) partners on our cloud payment platform exceeded 3,000.

In-store e-commerce services grew rapidly and achieved significant results:
— Total gross merchandise value ("GMV") was nearly RMB1.4 billion, up 17.9 times YoY, and 3.2 times compared with the second half of 2021;
— The number of monthly active users ("MAU") reached 19.0 million;
— The number of paying consumers reached nearly 9.7 million, increasing by 578.9% YoY and 136.0% from the second half of 2021;
— Stock keep units (SKU) reached over 205,300, up 1,570.2% YoY and 39.6% from the second half of 2021;
— Number of regional sites exceeded 300.

Steady growth for merchant solutions:
— Number of active merchant solutions merchants increased by 25.8% YoY to nearly 1.5 million.

Mr. Luke Liu, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Company, said, "The resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic has made 1H 2022 challenging by slowing down retail sales growth of consumer goods, and significantly disrupting offline commerce. But for us, because of our broad coverage across over 300 cities and low geographic concentration, we continued to make progress in scaling up and monetizing our commercial digitalized ecosystem. We have been proactively adapting to the new norm in China's internet industry, by being more cost cautious and profitability-driven, which has been demonstrated by our financial performance in the first half – total revenue and gross margin both showed encouraging improvement year over year("YoY"), particularly with gross profit increasing 52.1% to RMB529.3 million, gross margin improving by 7.4 percentage points on a YoY basis, and adjusted EBITDA reaching RMB69.7 million during the period, increasing by 39.7% compared with the second half of 2021.

"We firmly believe that fast-tracking development in the local lifestyle market brings significant real and quantifiable value to consumers and merchants, because consumers can find intriguing experiences and receive actual discount by using our services, and merchants can boost their revenue and name recognition through our concentrated traffic during a short timeframe. The in-store e-commerce business has experienced strong growth in GMV, with MAU exceeding 19.0 million during 1H 2022, coupled with our effective operations optimization, we have significantly narrowed its loss. Going forward, we will continue to focus on creating user value, driving technology innovation, and taking more social responsibility.

"Also, with confidence in Yeahka's fundamentals and future strategies, we have purchased a total of 25,533,600 shares of the Company through the restricted share unit scheme, accounting for 5.65% of total shares outstanding. Moreover, on 30 August 2022, we announced an additional US$70 million share purchase scheme, reflecting our continued confidence in Yeahka's growth potential."

Outlook
On one-stop payment services, Yeahka will continue to strengthen its sales network, particularly Open-API SaaS partnerships and bank partnerships. Yeahka will also look to embrace new payment standards such as DC/EP. On in-store e-commerce services, Yeahka will put utmost emphasis on improving user experience and focus on narrowing loss, as it is constantly optimizing its cost structure and operating efficiencies. Based on the strong results in the past few months, Yeahka is confident that it will continue to realize tremendous growth in GMV and increase market share. On merchant solutions, leveraging its strong payment merchant network, Yeahka will continue to empower merchants on optimizing digitalized operations and enhancing efficiency. Yeahka has raised US$70 million in July 2022 to strengthen its offshore balance sheet, and will explore overseas opportunities as cross-border travel gradually become available in China.

Overall, empowering the real economy and creating values for merchants and consumers has always been Yeahka's core values since its inception in 2011. As Yeahka enters the second half of 2022, the Company may still face challenges from pandemic-driven weakened consumption environment. However, as it has demonstrated with its operating results in 1H 2022, Yeahka will continue to navigate through difficult times, capitalize on the data and traffic in its ecosystem and achieve healthy growth. Yeahka will continue to invest in research and development, enrich its product mix, enhance user experience, increase diversified revenue streams, extend business boundaries, and create sustainable value for shareholders, employees, and society.

About YEAHKA LIMITED (Stock Code: 9923.HK)
Yeahka is a leading payment-based technology platform dedicated to creating value for merchants and consumers. Our goal is to build an independent and scalable commercial digitalized ecosystem to enable seamless, convenient, and reliable payment services to merchants and consumers, and to further expand into serving merchants and consumers with our diversified product portfolio, which now includes (i) in-store e-commerce services, providing consumers with local lifestyle services of great value, and (ii) merchant solutions, enabling merchants to better manage and drive business growth.

Investor and media enquiry:
Yeahka Limited
IR team
Email: ir@yeahka.com


Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

JCB Contactless Flourishes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with thousands of Concardis merchants welcoming JCB Contactless spend

London & Frankfurt, Aug 23, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – JCB International Co., Ltd., the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., has expanded its existing partnership with Concardis, as part of the Nets / Nexi Group one of Europe's leading paytech providers, to enable JCB Contactless acceptance at several thousands of merchants in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Concardis and the entire Nets / Nexi Group together with JCB share a common goal – to make payments simple.

Rollout has already begun with merchants with Concardis terminals in the travel and entertainment sectors such as hotels, shopping, and popular restaurants. This acceptance includes JCB Contactless.

JCB Contactless enables JCB Cardmembers to perform secure and fast contactless payments, simply by holding their JCB Card or JCB-Card-enabled smartphone or other devices over a point of sale (POS) terminal. JCB Contactless is based on the global chip standard 'EMV(R),' offering a higher level of security.

The JCB logo is widely recognised, so when displayed at point-of-sale, brands can differentiate themselves from competitors by offering JCB Cardmembers the option to transact with their payment network of choice, encouraging brand loyalty and repeat custom. JCB is accepted in 150 countries and regions globally, with about 39 million merchant partners, and more than 140 million international Cardmembers, many of whom enjoy spending in bricks and mortar establishments across Europe.

Ray Shinzawa, Managing Director, JCB International (Europe) Ltd., comments; "Many of our Cardmembers are avid travelers who would like to maintain the ease of spending they have at home whilst abroad. We have an established partnership with the esteemed Concardis that we are excited to continue. Our expanded collaboration will empower our partners and merchants to offer better, more secure experiences to our loyal Cardmembers."

Robert Hoffmann, CEO Concardis and Nets Merchant Services, adds; "Our merchants across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are looking forward to the return of international travel and welcoming back tourists. Of particular interest are, for example, those from Asia who enjoy travelling throughout Europe. This expanded partnership with JCB will provide our valued merchants with an even more seamless way to accommodate JCB's over 140 million Cardmembers. We expect that this promising venture will continue to contribute to the growth and development of our respective services, providing a better and further reaching offer for existing and future JCB Cardmembers."

Note: JCB Contactless is based on global chip standard 'EMV(R),' offering a high level of security. EMV(R) is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries and an unregistered trademark elsewhere. The EMV trademark is owned by EMVCo.

About JCB

JCB is a major global payment brand and a leading credit card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. Its acceptance network includes about 39 million merchants around the world. JCB issues cards across various countries and regions internationally with more than 140 million cardmembers. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase its merchant coverage and cardmember base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to providing responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide. For more information: www.global.jcb/en/

About Concardis

Concardis is a leading provider of digital payment solutions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As part of Europe's leading PayTech provider Nets / Nexi Group we have the size, capacity and geographic reach to drive forward the transition to a cashless Europe. Our goal is to help people and businesses of all sizes in transforming the way people make their payments and how businesses accept these payments. By simplifying payments and providing the most innovative and reliable solutions we enable enterprises and financial institutions to provide their customers with a better service, build closer relationships and grow together. More information on the companies is available on the following websites: www.concardis.com, www.nets.eu or www.nexigroup.com

Contacts:
JCB International/Europe
Contact: India Stone
Email: istone@jcbeurope.eu
Phone: +44 020 7087 4754

JCB (Head Office in Japan)
Contact: Ayaka Nakajima
Email: jcb-pr@jcb.co.jp
Phone: +81 3 5778 8353

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Digital Treasures Center Secures MPI Licence to Provide Digital Payment Token and Other Payment Services in Singapore

Singapore, Aug 1, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has granted Digital Treasures Center (DTC) the Major Payment Institution (MPI) licence. Securing the full licence means DTC has exited from the exemption status and is now a fully regulated provider (MAS licence number: PS20200531) of Digital Payment Token (DPT) and other payment services under the Payment Services Act (PSA).

Ms. Alice Liu, Chief Executive Officer and founder of DTC

“We are excited to obtain the full licence from MAS. With the full licensing, we will continue to build on the good work that the team is currently doing while looking to expand our footprint globally starting from our ASEAN neighbours,” said Ms. Alice Liu, Chief Executive Officer and founder of DTC. “Our base in Singapore provides us with the unique competitive advantage in leverage the country’s strong business infrastructure, strong government support, innovation ecosystem and strong regulatory framework to allow us to expand our company.

Effect 1 August 2022, DTC will be providing the following payment activities under the MPI licence:

  1. Account Issuance Service – open accounts for merchants and consumers to accept and pay e-money and non-card transactions.
  2. Merchant Acquisition Service – enable merchants to leverage DTC services to accept and process payment transactions online and offline.
  3. Domestic Money Transfer Service – provide local money transfer services in Singapore.
  4. Cross-border Money Transfer Service – provide cross-border money transfer services globally.
  5. E-money Issuance Service – issue e-money for merchants and consumers.
  6. Digital Payment Token Service – facilitate transactions with digital payment tokens.

“We are grateful for the support and trust that our clients and community have given us over the years. We are optimistic about the future of cryptocurrency as a use case for payment. Over the past few months, we are seeing an uptick of enquiries and onboarding from merchants and companies from healthcare to music, F&B and automobiles on enabling crypto payments,” Liu said. “As crypto payment gains momentum, we are hopeful to see more merchants from various industries coming onboard to accept crypto as an additional form of payment.”

About Digital Treasures Center

Digital Treasures Center Pte Ltd (“DTC”) is an enterprise payment service provider incorporated in Singapore with PCI-DSS level 1 certification and winner of the prestigious Fintech Partner Award at Singapore Fintech Festival. Our payment solution – DTC Pay, offers clients and merchants the ability to receive and settle payment, including cryptocurrency. DTC Pay is compliant, fast, secure and cost efficient. DTC is dedicated to building the payment infrastructure that would allow merchants and consumers to interact with fiat and cryptocurrency seamlessly.

Find out more at www.dtcpayment.com

For media related queries, please contact:
Mr. Desmond Yong
Email: desmond.yong@dtcpayment.com
Mobile: +65 8889 7802



Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

AEON Credit (00900) 1Q2022 Revenue up by 9.7% to HK$279.1 million

HONG KONG, Jun 23, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – AEON Credit Service (Asia) Company Limited ("AEON Credit" or the "Group"; Stock Code: 00900) today announced its unaudited results for the three months ended 31 May 2022 ("1Q2022", or the "reporting period").

For 1Q2022, the Group's revenue increased 9.7% year-on-year to HK$279.1 million and operating profit before impairment losses and impairment allowances was up by 16.4% to HK$126.9 million. The Group recorded profit of HK$82.7 million (1Q2021: HK$97.0 million) and earnings per share of 19.74 HK cents for the reporting period.

Overall sales for 1Q2022 increased by 12.3% against 1Q2021, with gross advances and receivables balance up by 4.0% relative to the amount at end of February 2022. With an increase in sales for the Group, both as a credit card issuer and acquirer and an insurance intermediary, the Group recorded a year-on-year increase of HK$7.4 million in fees and commissions, reaching a total of HK$28.9 million. Interest income, meanwhile, increased by HK$15.8 million to HK$233.9 million, driven by the continued rise in receivable balances. These, combined with the increase in handling and late charges due to the rising demand in cash advance, led to the robust growth in the Group's revenue and operating profit. However, the expectation of slow economic recovery in the reporting period in stark contrast with the expected rebound in key economic indicators in 1Q2021, resulted in a relatively significant increase in impairment losses and impairment allowances in 1Q2022, which led to the decline in profit during the reporting period, despite the solid top-line growth.

As part of its strategy to cater for the shift in customer spending towards the Internet under the new normal and expand its customer base, the Group launched its first ever cashback credit card, AEON Card Wakuwaku (the "Wakuwaku card"), in May 2022, which allows cardholders to enjoy special spending rebates for online and overseas spending in Japan. Supported by celebrity endorsement to attract a younger generation of customers, it has received a favourable response with more than 5,000 Wakuwaku cards issued in the first month of its debut.

Following its successful marketing and brand building efforts for the Wakuwaku card, the Group will place yet more emphasis on using both digital and traditional marketing channels to promote its credit card and personal loan products and to roll out different marketing programmes to enrich customers' user experience.

Regarding its technology development endeavours, AEON Credit's card and loan system replacement project is targeted to be completed towards the end of the current financial year, after which the Group will be able to launch new payment solutions, enjoy flexibility in offering product benefits and have access to even better data analysis tools. With a strong capital position, the Group will continue to dedicate resources to the expansion of its branch network, providing higher quality customer experiences, accelerating digitalisation and exploring new investment opportunities to expand and diversify its businesses.

Mr. Tomoharu Fukayama, Managing Director of AEON Credit said, "The Group is glad to have achieved positive revenue and operating profit growth in 1Q2022 despite the challenging operating environment amid the fifth wave of the Pandemic. The implementation of our strategy to address the shift in customer spending behaviour and appeal to the younger generation has made good progress with the successful launch of our Wakuwaku card. To embrace changing customer needs and capture the arising market opportunities, we will also continue to ramp up our marketing and promotions using a variety of channels and increase our technology upgrade and digitalisation efforts."

About AEON Credit Service (Asia) Company Limited (Stock Code: 00900)
AEON Credit Service (Asia) Company Limited, a subsidiary of AEON Financial Service Co., Ltd. (TSE: 8570) and a member of the AEON Group, was set up in 1987 and listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited in 1995. The Group is principally engaged in the consumer finance business, which includes the issuance of credit cards and the provision of personal loan financing, card payment processing services, insurance agency and brokerage business in Hong Kong and microfinance business in Mainland China.

For more information, please visit the company's website at www.aeon.com.hk.


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CIMB Niaga and JCB launch JCB Digital Credit Card in Indonesia

TOKYO & JAKARTA, Jun 22, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk (CIMB Niaga) and PT JCB International Indonesia (JCB), as a subsidiary of JCB International Co. Ltd., launched the CIMB Niaga JCB OCTO Card Digital Credit Card in Jakarta, on 22nd June 2022. This credit card with digital or virtual technology was developed in line with the rapid growth of demand for online transactions and credit card technology. The Digital Credit Card provides a number of improvements. It enables the user to apply for CIMB Niaga JCB OCTO Card Digital Credit Card anytime and anywhere, and it also provides a safer and easier payment method for online transactions by using a one-time password (OTP).

Director of Consumer Banking CIMB Niaga Noviady Wahyudi said, "CIMB Niaga continues to innovate to develop digital customer experience by integrating various products and services into the OCTO Mobile Super App, making it easier for people to meet their financial needs. Recently, we innovated to present the CIMB Niaga JCB OCTO Card Digital Credit Card, which provides a comprehensive digital transaction experience for users," said Noviady.

Meanwhile, President Director of PT JCB International Indonesia, Takumi Takahashi, said, "The launching of this new Digital Credit Card shows our successful collaboration with CIMB Niaga and our commitment to cater to the demand for digital transactions in Indonesia. We believe with this new Digital Credit Card, customers can experience the uniqueness of JCB."

The issuance of the CIMB Niaga JCB OCTO Card Digital Credit Card is an initiative of CIMB Niaga and JCB to provide an easier, faster and safer online transaction experience. All transactions will be verified by entering a random two (2) digit OCTO Mobile PIN, and online transactions at most online merchants that have implemented 3D secure security are protected by a one time password (OTP) sent to a mobile phone number registered with the Bank. These features minimize the risk of online fraud and losses due to card theft. Customers also have the option to immediately block their CIMB Niaga JCB OCTO Card Digital Credit Card via the CIMB Niaga OCTO Mobile.

With the fast online application process for the Digital Credit Card, customers will have easier and instant access to their credit cards at the time of payment, without the hassle of carrying a physical credit card. Overall, this new Digital Credit Card is a convenient and hassle-free way to do transactions instantly.

The main features and benefits of this Digital Credit Card include 10% cash back for online transactions through the CIMB Niaga OCTO Mobile, a free installment fee with a 3 month tenor for minimum retail transactions of Rp 500,000, and a free annual fee. For detailed information, please visit: https://www.cimbniaga.co.id/id/personal/kartu-kredit/octo-card.

CIMB Niaga JCB OCTO Card Digital Credit Card customers can use the Card with the above features and benefits at more than 100 thousand offline and online merchants in Indonesia.

About CIMB Niaga

CIMB Niaga was established under the name of Bank Niaga in 1955. Approximately 92.5% of CIMB Niaga's shares (including those owned by PT Commerce Kapital of 1.02%) are owned by the CIMB Group. CIMB Niaga offers complete banking products and services, both conventional and Sharia, through a 428 office network as of 30 June 2021, consisting of 358 branch offices, 37 Digital Lounges and 33 Mobile Branches. CIMB Niaga has 12,389 employees (consolidated) as of June 30, 2021.

CIMB Group is the second largest financial services provider in Malaysia and one of the leading universal banking groups in ASEAN. The products and services it offers include consumer banking products and services, investment banking, Islamic banking, asset management and insurance. CIMB Group is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, and operates in all ASEAN member countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, and the Philippines). In addition to the ASEAN region, CIMB Group has also established offices in China, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Korea. CIMB Group's shares are listed on Bursa Malaysia through CIMB Group Holdings Berhad. As of 30 June 2021, the group has a market capitalization value of USD 11.1 billion.

About JCB

JCB is a major global payment brand and a leading credit card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. Its acceptance network includes about 39 million merchants around the world. JCB Cards are now issued mainly in Asian countries and territories, with more than 140 million cardmembers. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase its merchant coverage and cardmember base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to providing responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.global.jcb/en/

Contact
Ayaka Nakajima
Corporate Communications
Tel: +81-3-5778-8353
Email: jcb-pr@jcb.co.jp

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