Recently, Abel Technology (HK.08279) announced that it will purchase Macau Pass, known as the “Macau Octopus”, for HK$778 million. The trading parties have reached transfer agreements on all equity interest matters. The relevant Hong Kong and Macau regulatory review and approval and other related conditions have yet to be implemented.
As a leading payment service provider in Macau, Macau Pass is a licensed “other credit institution” exempted by the Macau Monetary Authority and is the most commonly used contactless smart payment card in Macau. Initially, it was mainly a service bus charging system, and later its use expanded to other payment scenarios such as public transportation, parking lots, government services, retail consumption, and food and beverage services. It can also be customized to include functions such as door lock cards, employee cards, and membership cards. Currently, more than 3 million tickets have been issued.
However, with the launch of Macau Pass in 2007 and its development can only be described as stable, it can also be seen that local companies in Macau are looking ahead to electronic payments, but the development atmosphere is lacking. However, the catalysis of the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years and continued policy trends have created new opportunities to promote the development of emerging areas and economic diversification in Macao. The introduction of external forces and cooperation can catalyze the progress of economic development in the region.
Electronic payments can still be used as an example. During the epidemic, Macao introduced economic change measures to issue supplements or consumer vouchers through online channels to promote people's livelihood and economic recovery in the region, while simultaneously accelerating the spread of electronic payments in the region. Among the optional electronic payment tools that ordinary citizens need to open include mPay and Alipay (Macau), which are owned by Macau Pass. With the trend of electronic payments, merchants and banks are also speeding up their integration, driving down overall costs.
The “Payment Card and Mobile Payment Statistics for the 1st Quarter of 2021” released by the Macao Monetary Authority in May this year shows that the number of local mobile payment instruments transactions in the first quarter of 2021 was 34.73 million, up 40.9% quarterly; the total transaction amount was 3.1 billion, an increase of 31.5% from quarter to quarter, reflecting the rising trend in the usage frequency and total transaction value of mobile payments in the Macau market. Looking at it from a long-term perspective, the full popularization of electronic payments not only benefits the citizens of Macau, but can also deepen the interconnection of infrastructure between Macao and the mainland, making sufficient preparations to dig deeper into the 1.4 billion population market.
As far as this cooperation is concerned, Macau Express believes that future shareholders and their associated groups will also uphold the principles of convenience and inclusiveness and continue to provide quality services to the citizens of Macau. If the transfer is successfully implemented, it will help drive the further transformation and upgrading of Macau's electronic payments, mobile finance and digital economy.
In particular, in the context of the recent launch of the “Comprehensive Plan for the Construction of the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone” in the mainland, it can be seen that Hengqin is focusing on exploring a tailor-made development model to promote the diversified development of Macao's economy as the core content, which will gradually expand the livelihood, employment and start-up areas of Macao residents. Through infrastructure, industry incubation and cultivation, the efficient flow of enterprises, capital, and talents in the two places has gradually been achieved.
It can also be seen from this that the momentum of deep cooperation between the two places is irreversible, and it has also provided Macao with invaluable development opportunities. Macau needs to seize the key development period. On the one hand, it needs to focus on mainland business opportunities and markets and participate in the mainland cycle. On the other hand, it can also jointly expand overseas markets with the Greater Bay Area, promote a major international cycle, break the bottlenecks of previous development, and comprehensively promote sustainable economic development.