Tag Archives: e-payment

Enabling Global Expansion Through An Agile & Adaptable Payment System

This article was written from a sit-down interview withYuval Ziv, President of Nuvei Corporation.

The world we know is ever-changing. With the advent of digital technologies and rapidly adapting legislation, it’s become even more challenging for businesses to grow across borders. Where it once was a matter of having an international website, it’s now a question of localisation and adaptation. This reality rings true even when handling international payments and transactions. However, companies like Nuvei provide a unique proposition of a single, modular interface to manage most, if not all, of the challenges of digitalisation when it comes to payments.

Paypal, VISA, iPay88, Stripe and even Apple Pay are some of the world’s most popular payment methods right now. However, when it comes to accepting these payment methods for businesses, it can be a long, tedious process. What’s more, there is also the added complication of regulatory compliance and knowing the lay of the land.

paying using a card
Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels.com

These hurdles don’t just delay global rollout and expansion. They, can, at times, be the factors that cause businesses and companies to lose momentum. In other words, they can be the straws that break the camel’s back. That said, a business’s aspirations should never be limited by uphill battles. Collaboration and onboarding of the right solutions will always be at the heart of any foolproof strategy. However, too many partners can also create more problems.

A Single Turnkey for Most Hurdles

The need for a single turnkey solution is more than just apparent; it’s imperative. That’s where Nuvei has chosen to develop its single API which brings together everything businesses need when it comes to payment solutions. The API is continually being developed by their in-house team of developers as the company continues to grow even through acquisitions.

In fact, Nuvei has most recently acquired Paymentez, Mazooma and Simplex. These acquisitions expand the reach and scope of services offered by Nuvei. The added features and services that they bring will be integrated seamlessly into the existing Nuvei API. Businesses that have deployed the API will then get an update which will give them access to these new markets and services. The company’s internal development team allows them to have the agility needed to bring new products to market as well as the freedom to adapt near instantaneously. What’s more, its core platform remains unchanged and flexible throughout.

close up photo of a man holding cellphone and a card
Photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels.com

It is this agile and adaptable approach that makes a viable single turnkey solution. With a continually evolving marketplace and changing legislative environment, partners need to be able to help alleviate some of the burdens of business without becoming a burden themselves.

Payments are just the beginning

Let’s just face the hard truth, dealing with payments across markets can be a headache. Aside from legislative and technological hurdles, the biggest choice a company can make is which payment platform they choose to support. This reality changes from country to country and perhaps even from region to region within a country. There is no single answer that can accurately predict the proliferation of a payment gateway or service.

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Source: Nuvei

That said, a business partner which can provide you with these insights would be invaluable. A business partner that can provide you with insights, as well as access to all the possible payment platforms, is pivotal. Nuvei is poised to be able to do this with access to numerous payment gateways as well as provide you with the insights needed to grow your business effectively. Of course, we’re talking about payment platforms here.

Take for instance, in Malaysia, we have Touch ‘N Go Wallet, Boost, GrabPay and ShopeePay. Each of these platforms is able to not only process digital payments but also bring a large number of potential customers. Choosing between them, if you really need to, could be the difference between success and failure. Without looking at any insights, you think that accepting TnG’s eWallet would be a safer bet when it comes to payment methods. However, factors such as time in the market as well as adoption could be different. In this case, both GrabPay and TnG’s eWallet are front runners perception-wise. That said, we can never 100% that the other methods may not be greater than what’s reported. Getting a dashboard where this information is available would allow businesses to make informed decisions.


Yuval Ziv President Nuvei
Source: Nuvei

“Every market, every user has their payment method… if we enable a merchant to collect or accept payments by only the minority or some of the payment methods, you will cause a merchant to lose users.”

Yuval Ziv, President at Nuvei Corporation


Nuvei’s platform not only allows businesses to see these vital insights but also gives them the freedom to adopt and choose between the payment methods available in the country and region. The flexibility and freedom for businesses to not only accept but also implement their preferred service through a single helps them grow on their terms with access to impactful insights.

Dealing with More than Just Implementation But Remaining Flexible

Today’s marketplace is no longer simply about market access or payments either. It’s about growing while mitigating risks and adapting to new realities as they emerge. Conventional solutions tend to always lock businesses into a single, inflexible mode of operations but it goes without saying, that a one-trick pony can be detrimental when it comes to business growth. In addition, streamlining allows business cost reductions that can be channelled elsewhere.


Yuval Ziv President Nuvei
Source: Nuvei

“The first challenge working globally… is understanding the user’s preferences and then enabling all of those payment methods in our checkout experience.”

Yuval Ziv, President at Nuvei Corporation


If that is true for general business practices, what more for payment solutions. Businesses are flung into a landscape where they will need to keep tabs on regulatory changes as will undoubtedly affect them. If the business has services rooted in the gig economy, it has the added complication of pay-outs.

These complex day-to-day activities can’t be avoided even if we try to. Businesses require visibility and peace of mind when they happen. Nuvei doesn’t just provide businesses with access to payment methods, its single, modular API brings along payment orchestration. Using this, merchants and businesses are able to integrate payments received and pay-outs into a single platform where they have eyes on everything. The platform is also able to generate unified reports that will allow businesses to get a complete picture of their business health.

black samsung tablet computer
Photo by PhotoMIX Company on Pexels.com

In addition to this, Nuvei is constantly updating its business insights and practices. They have teams that are constantly monitoring markets for updates in legislation and impactful insights. The company not only updates their API with these new developments but also reacts to ensure that its client’s businesses remain unaffected. In fact, they also act to help mitigate and manage risk when changes happen and also when required by the client.

Peace of Mind in an Ever-evolving Landscape

There’s nothing better than having peace of mind when it comes to a business’s day-to-day activities. That’s essentially what Nuvei is promising with their Payment platform. However, the company has its eyes on the future as they continue to grow. With the emergence of digital banking and open banking worldwide as well as the continued influence of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, the company is committed to ensuring that its platform remains one of the most flexible and robust.

Their platform already supports payments via cryptocurrencies and supports clients in the NFT space. In fact, the company sees the emergence of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain as opportunities. Implementation of blockchain and tokenization to increase the security of the platform could be in its future. However, for now, the company remains committed to providing a turnkey solution for customers when it comes to payment management, acceptance and orchestration.

You Can Now Use Your Touch ‘n Go eWallet in Singapore

Touch ‘n Go eWallet just got a little more useful, especially if you frequent Singapore. TNG Digital Sdn Bhd announced that the eWallet will now work in Singapore. However, you will only be able to use it for payments when you use taxis operated by ComfortDelGro. The compatibility comes from Touch ‘n Go’s collaboration with Alipay+. Alipay+ is a suite of global cross-border digital payments and marketing solutions operated by the Ant Group.

TNG Digital Alipay Singapore

Alipay+ has been avaliable in the eWallet app for a while now. However, it seems like this is the first official application of the cross-border payment capabilities from Touch ‘n Go eWallet. While it was reported a while back that there seems to be compatibility for payments in Japan, there hasn’t been any official announcement from TNG Digital themselves.

Alan Ni, CEO of TNG Digital, indicates that this is merely the beginning when it comes to cross border payments – particularly in Singapore. Touch ‘n Go eWallet is in a unique position when it comes to cross-border payments as Touch ‘n Go Bhd has worked with Singapore’s EZLink for cross-border usage recently. The partnership and Alipay+ opens up a whole new level of convenience for Touch ‘n Go eWallet users who frequently commute between Singapore and Malaysia. This amounted to some 350,000 people before the pandemic.

TNG Digital hasn’t clarified if there are transactional fees when you use the eWallet overseas. However, they are having offers to celebrate the new collaboration with ComfortDelGro taxis. Users who use the eWallet to make payments until 25th June 2022 will be entitled to an instant discount of between MYR4 (SGD$1.26) and MYR6 (SGD$1.89). Discounts are varied between weeks and limited to the first 300 transactions daily.

Touch n’ Go RFID Now Available for MYR 35 Nationwide!

18 months ago, Touch n’ Go Sdn. Bhd. started something quite radical for the transportation industry in Malaysia. It is not what you would call unthinkable or unheard of. It has been done before, albeit outside of Malaysia. The new application within Malaysian road have been also widely know to be used in plenty of applications with unmatched reliability and accuracy; baggage sorting and handling in the airports for example.  

If you were thinking of RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification); yes we are talking about RFID. The title should have given it away anyway. Touch n’ Go Sdn. Bhd., in collaboration with Touch n’ Go Digital, launched the RFID pilot program. According to Touch n’ Go, the program gave out about million RFID tags to residents of Klang Valley. The program also extends its acceptance across Klang Valley’s 22 highways through its 18 months Pilot program. Late last year, extending into this year, the RFID acceptance extends to selected toll gates across the North-South Expressway.  

In short, the program was a successful one. That is the test covered; so what is next? A full rollout of course.  

That also means that RFID tags are now available for purchase via installation centres across the nation. You no longer have to make extensive applications through the website and wait for approval from Touch n’ Go to install the RFID tags to your cars, for a price. Not expensive though at MYR 35. Compare that to a new Smart TAG device at MYR 150 each. To use the devices you also have to get a new Touch n’ Go card for MYR 10.  

The RFID tag works with an eWallet – the Touch n’ Go eWallet. You do not need a Touch n’ Go card anymore with the RFID tags. Well, you might still want to keep one as a back up; just in case. All you have to do is to ensure you have enough credits in the Touch n’ Go eWallet, pass through an RFID lane, and you’re through. Keep a good distance with the car in front of you though, and a reasonable speed (30 km/h) and below.  

Of course RFID will not just stop at the 22 toll gates in Klang Valley. They are rolling out to even more toll gates across the nation through 2020 and beyond. Touch n’ Go is also looking to use RFID beyond the public roads. They are looking at installing it and using it for parking, paying for petrol, and more. 

RFID is more than just what you see on the surface though. Touch n’ Go Sdn. Bhd. can now do real-time traffic analysis and tracking. These data can be shared across multiple platforms or even the authorities for traffic planning and tracking. It is all a part of a smarter and more digital Malaysia. 

Touch n’ Go’s RFID tags will be available for purchase at MYR 35/tag from 15th February onward. You do have to ensure that you have the Touch n’ Go eWallet app on your smartphones first though; the RFID tags are tied  to your eWallet. From the 15th February 2020 to 15 April 2020 40 lucky winners will walk away with MYR 2,500 worth of Toll Pass credited in their eWallet.  

The Touch n’ Go eWallet app is available for free on Android and iOS via Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store respectively. For more information on the Touch n’ Go RFID program you can head over to their website

Skip the Queue at PETRONAS, Setel on Your Smartphone!

Any drivers knows the pain of driving. Traffic jam? No, not really. There is one very big inconvenience whenever you take out your car.  

Put it this way; your car needs energy to run. For electric cars, you need a battery pack to store energy for the car. While you can do that at home, you need to get your car plugged in still. It will take forever to charge too. 

While electric cars may not be too clever of an investment in Malaysia at this time, the traditional internal combustion engines with traditional fossil fuels are the way to go. The inconvenience is that you have to keep your tank topped up when it runs out, a 5 minute ordeal at times.  

Most of the time though its just 5 minutes that you spend in the fueling station. You tend to spend more than 15 minutes in the fueling station. At times you have to wait for a pump to free up when there is too many people at the station. Once that’s done, you have to queue up to pay for your fuel at the kiosk. To skip that, you can use your debit/credit card at the pump. If you use a debit card though, the vendor first takes MYR200 from your account before you even start doing anything.  

What if there is a better solution. Since every other person in Malaysia has been going on and on about eWallet, why not use these apps to pay for fuel, from inside the car; ‘Setel’ it there and then.  

Welcome to the world of Setel, an eWallet app that is specialised in handling all your fuelling needs. With Setel, it really is just 5 minutes in the fuelling station, not 15 minutes.  

The moment you get to the fueling station, all you need to do is to pull up to an available pump, whip out the smartphone, open Setel app, choose the pump you are at, enter the amount that you would like to fuel, and voila, your pump is ready. Of course you need to make sure you still have credits in the app wallet. For that, you can use your credit/debit card with no fuss. If you need to find a petrol station near you, the app will help you find it too. 

While the app has existed for about a year now, the app was only readily useable in the Klang Valley region and was in Beta mode. Now though, the app is fully launched as a full running app. The app will not just stop at the pumps though. They are working closely with PETRONA Malaysia to release more features within their petrol pumping stations like purchasing items in PETRONAS Mesra shops or partnering vendors, with collection at the station.  

Speaking of Mesra, you can connect you Mesra card to the app and collect points automatically as you use the app. While in Beta you could not redeem the points in your Mesra card through the app now though, you can. The Setel app is the one stop shop for all fueling needs in PETRONAS.

The Setel app is now available for free on Google’s Play Store for Android and Apple App Store of iOS devices. You can use Setel app in over 700 PETRONAS fuelling stations across the nation. For now, there is no other vendors that accepts payment via the Setel app. There is also currently an MYR 200 cap within the app. No matter though, you can now tell your friends that you are actually ‘setel-ing’ some business as your late excuse. More information on the Setel app on their website.