fastacash nails Cellum partnership for trillion dollar worth mobile payments market accession

fastacash allows payments through social media and messaging apps including Facebook Messenger, Line, Twitter, WeChat and WhatsApp. Meanwhile, Cellum provides a mobile wallet solution to banks, telecommunication operators, and card scheme networks, handling around two million monthly transactions, fastacash said in a statement, digitalnewsasia.com reports.

The partnership allows fastacash to integrate Cellum’s digital wallet solution, mobile payment switching and card storage capabilities; while Cellum gets to take advantage of fastacash’s social media payment capabilities, improved user experience, and user interface design.

The deal also opens up its global network of partners across Asia, Australia, Europe and North America to Cellum, while fastacash gets access to new markets such as Japan and Thailand in Asia, as well as Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary in Europe. The integration of Cellum’s merchant base will also enable fastacash to launch its Request-to-Pay (RTP) service.

With RTP, consumers can request their social connections – family members, friends, acquaintances etc. – to complete offline and online transactions on their behalf, facilitating e-gifts as well as enabling transactions to end-users who may not have access to banking and payment mechanisms.

By giving the purchaser and payer the ability to transact together, RTP makes ecommerce and e-gifting a more social experience, fastacash claimed. Research firm Forrester estimates that by the end of 2016, there will be 4.8 billion people using mobile devices; 46% will be on smartphones, according to fastacash. IDC has forecast that mobile payments will rise from a little under USD 500 billion in 2015 to over USD 1 trillion in 2017, a 124% increase.