Soft Space Sdn. Bhd. (Soft Space), the world’s leading fintech-as-a-service (FaaS) provider, and JCB International Co., Ltd., the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd. (JCB), announced the launch of the first ever JCB payment gateway in Malaysia.
This is a significant milestone in the strategic partnership between Soft Space and JCB, which was signed in January 2022, and follows their successful central bank digital currency (CBDC) trial in December 2023, as well as the recent agreement to enable JCB acceptance for all HLB merchants.
Leveraging JCB’s robust global network and Soft Space’s technical expertise, the JCB payment gateway aligns with the global shift towards diversified digital transactions, meeting the market’s demand for secure, innovative payment options. In this case, Soft Space provides a straightforward Application Programming Interface (API) specification that enables acquirers and payment facilitators to quickly and efficiently offer their retail merchants access to JCB’s network of over 156 million cardmembers globally as of September 2023 (annual transaction volumes exceed JPY 43 trillion between April 2022 and March 2023) without having to establish a direct connection to JCB themselves.
“The launch of the JCB payment gateway complements the fact that Malaysia is the most visited country in Southeast Asia in 2023[1]. Not only will this make cross-border payments more convenient, secure and seamless, it aligns well with our broader goal to promote Soft Space’s technology in other verticals such as transit and in-flight payments globally,” said Joel Tay, Chief Executive Officer of Soft Space.
E-commerce merchants stand to benefit greatly from this development, especially those in the tourism sector. Japanese tourists are increasingly purchasing attraction tickets and booking accommodation via e-commerce merchants. If they can start accepting JCB payments through payment facilitators, they are well-placed to capitalise on the rapidly growing international e-commerce spending by JCB cardmembers, which has increased by 52% from 2021 to 2022[2].
Yoshiki Kaneko, President and Chief Executive Officer of JCB International Co., Ltd. said: “Looking at the behaviour of today’s consumers, online shopping has become an indispensable part of their daily lives and also the main source of growth for all businesses, including JCB. This trend is especially true since the pandemic. We are delighted to launch the new function together with Soft Space to seize the growing business opportunity in the e-commerce business, while providing a better experience for our JCB cardmembers and merchants. This also marks another milestone in the strategic partnership with Soft Space, giving us even greater confidence that our collaboration with Malaysia’s leading fintech is a key to success.”
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