Category: Apps

Mobile payments deal reached in Thailand with VocaLink

The company from the U.K. has now connected itself with the interbank payments network in the Asia Pacific Country

VocaLink, from the United Kingdom, has now signed an exclusive letter of intent with Thailand’s interbank payments network operator, National ITMX, in order to look into the development of a mobile payments system that would function over real time within the APAC nation.

VocaLink is the company behind the operation of the Faster Payments rails in the U.K., among other projects.

Under the Zapp brand, the company will also be launching a national “Pay by bank” mobile payments app in the U.K., with the support of that country’s banks. The architecture for the Faster Payments system has already been implemented in Singapore, where it is the foundation for the Fast payments service in that country. Now, VocaLink will collaborate with NITMX in order to offer real time smartphone transaction services to merchants, banks, and consumers, built on an instant payment capability platform based on the ISO20022 standard.

National ITMX selected VocaLink as a mobile payments partner due to its strong and extensive history.

thailand mobile paymentsThe managing director of National ITMX, Wanna Notarbhorn, explained that “We chose VocaLink as a key partner because of their proven track record in the delivery of both the UK Faster Payments Service and Singapore’s ISO20022 FAST real-time payments systems. We believe they are best placed to help us identify options for delivering efficient and reliable mobile payments services in Thailand.”

From the time of the Faster Payments program launch in the United Kingdom in 2008, the system has processed more than 4 billion secure transactions. The VocaLink managing director of strategy, products, marketing and business development, Paul Stoddard, stated that this experience in the United Kingdom is a direct reflection of the benefits offered through real time tech throughout the payments sector and into the broader economy.

The mobile payments partnership between the two companies was first announced in Singapore at the international Sibos conference. That event placed smartphone based transactions under an important spotlight when it came to worldwide introduction and adoption by businesses and consumers alike.

Mobile marketing is falling under viewing trends

Only 10 percent of digital ads are delivered in a way that is compatible with smartphones and tablets.

According to recent research findings from JW Player, only 10 percent of all ads are mobile marketing compatible, which has – according to the report on the results – revealed that advertisers are greatly missing out on a highly engaged target audience that is considerable in size.

Advertisers are not properly leveraging the mobile channel when it comes to their ad placement, said the report.

The research showed that around the world, audiences are watching video content on their mobile devices 30 percent of the time. This is particularly true on smartphones, as only 6 percent of video viewers use their tablets to do so. However, it pointed out that mobile marketing is not focusing on that very large number of viewers, despite the fact that it represents nearly one third of the video watchers.

The founder of JW Player has cautioned firms that mobile marketing will be critical for their future success.

Mobile Marketing TrendsJW Player founder, Jeroen Wijering, explained that “It is vital for content creators to stay up to date on the currently industry trends and technology usage in order to best advance their online video strategy.” He went on to point out that while there has been an overall solidification in the market, there has yet to be a widespread adoption of the most strategic video standards across the industry, particularly when it comes to marketing firms.

The company is hopeful that their Trends in Online Video Report will help to provide the insight that is necessary for greater HTML5 adoption so that viewers who prefer to use mobile devices will be able to see online video that is supported by their technology of preference.

The JW Player video mobile marketing research discovered that beyond adapting to new formats over smartphones and tablets, advertisers also have ad blocking tech that they will need to overcome. This is particularly the case among European audiences. The global ad blocking rate currently sits at around 10 to 30 percent of users. According to JW Player, one of the primary drivers behind the use of the blockers is that viewers are increasingly frustrated by the intrusive banner ads that they are forced to see, and they want more control over their video experiences.