Asia

Japanese credit card brand JCB has signed several deals to expand its global acceptance online and at the point of sale.

Kenya’s Family Bank Ltd. will collaborate with London fintech SimbaPay to launch a transfer service to China with WeChat.

Indonesia’s Go-Jek plans to roll out a preliminary version of its ride-hailing app in Singapore Thursday, bringing fresh competition to the hometown of arch-rival Grab, according to people familiar with the plan. Both companies combine ride hailing technology with payments and other financial services.

The Australian government is evaluating a set of proposals to radically reform its payments industry, including abolishing interchange and opening up access for new entrants to core infrastructure.

Chinese payment companies have successfully lured merchants outside of China by enabling payments for Chinese tourists, a use case Tencent hopes will work in Japan, where rival Alipay lurks.

Seeking a stronger foothold in the growing India payments landscape, Visa has made a minority investment in digital payments platform BillDesk.

In the past few years the Chinese government has loosened restrictions on foreign travel, enabling millions of its citizenry to visit foreign lands. Along with a greater ability to travel is the enhanced prosperity Chinese consumers have reaped at home — and now bring with them on vacations to purchase foreign goods.

China has been promising openness to outside payment companies for more than a decade. So far it hasn’t delivered, according to Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

In its 10th year promoting an unofficial Chinese holiday celebrating singlehood, Alibaba’s online sales hit a record $30.8 billion (RMB213.5), exceeding last year’s record by 27 percent.

American Express' progress with local officials in China regarding card payments provides a potential early advantage against rivals like Mastercard and Visa. But building a market in China has never been easy for a global card brand.