Macau lures fintechs with trial licenses

The Monetary Authority of Macao plans to offer temporary licenses for fintech trials to attract new types of financial institutions.

Additionally, three bills are on the way to provide a legal basis for developing insurance, funds and securities.

In recent years, the city has continued to improve the infrastructure of the financial system and set up instant payment systems to accommodate the Macau pataca, Hong Kong dollar and Chinese yuan.

The authority is developing the second phase of the payment system to extend its services to small inter-bank transfers or non-bank payments of Hong Kong dollars.

The central bank will continue to promote the popularization of cashless payment systems and coordinate with financial institutions to launch "Simple Pay," which can connect to all local mobile payment terminals. It aims to provide residents and merchants with more efficient payment tools during transactions.

Currently, "Simple Pay" covers 90 percent of the shops in Macau, which drove the mobile payment transaction amount to a new high last year of nearly 26 billion patacas (HK$25.3 billion) - an annual increase of 40 percent.

Additionally, the authority said that 11 new financial institutions had set foot in the city over the last five years, spanning fields such as payment services, financing and leasing, investment funds and trading of financial assets.