Hong Kong’s cashless payment market is currently dominated by Octopus, which launched two decades ago. In a sign of the changing times, around 3,000 Hong Kong taxi drivers now accept payments through Alipay or WeChat Pay. Meanwhile, Octopus launched its own e-payment system for taxis in April.
“Because Octopus is so convenient and widely adopted, and there are ATMs everywhere in Hong Kong, people have no urgency to take up mobile payments,” said Ng. “I believe QR will be one of the most popular payment methods in Hong Kong when it is standardised.”