China’s Expresspay Card moves into wearable payments

Exhibition stand with man in front
TICK TOCK TAP: The Saga Watch Pay range was unveiled today at the CWCF Watch & Clock Fair in Shenzhen, China

PARTNER NEWS: Expresspay Card, a joint venture between China UnionPay and Bank of China that offers China’s only open loop prepaid card, has partnered with Tappy Technologies and watch brand Saga Watch to offer cardholders a wearable payments option that will be accepted at any merchant equipped to accept China UnionPay contactless payments.

“Tappy is providing Saga Watch with the ability to add an Expresspay Card contactless payment module to the products in its new Saga Watch Pay range,” Tappy Technologies CEO Wayne Leung told NFC World.

“Tappy will also provide owners of the new watches with a mobile wallet they can use to top up their prepaid balance using any UnionPay debit or credit card.”

The new Saga Watch Pay range will be available in time for the 2019/20 holiday season with prices starting at around US$100.

Saga CEO Eddie Leung added: “The highlight of the new collection from Saga Pay enables non-chargeable devices like traditional timepieces to be used in most major fast food and convenience stores and across China’s public transit system.”

Additional watch brands are expected to use Tappy’s technology to enable consumers to make Expresspay Card wearable payments “soon”, Tappy’s Wayne Leung said.

Tappy Technologies

Hong Kong-based Tappy Technologies offers a range of wearable payments products including watch straps, wristbands and key fobs that come with an embedded contactless payment chip. Customers include Barclays, Icici Bank, Axis Bank, Etisalat, Timex, Mondaine and Guess.

The Hong Kong-based wearable payments specialist is also working with Timex Group on the launch of a watch range that will use its Wearable Token Services Platform to let consumers link their debit or credit card to their watch and use it to make payments wherever their card would be accepted worldwide.

• Readers interested in learning more about the latest trends in wearable payments can visit the NFCW Knowledge Centre to watch video recordings and download slides from the Wearable Payment Summit at MWC Barcelona 2019. The summit featured speakers from Tappy Technologies, Barclays, Timex, Gemalto and Zwipe, and was moderated by NFC World’s editor Sarah Clark.

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