Marks & Spencer Rolls Out ‘Mobile, Pay, Go’; CIMB Teams With GHL Systems For QR Terminals

Welcome to The Axis, your late look at payments news from around the world. Coverage includes Marks & Spencer’s roll out of its “Mobile, Pay, Go” service in the U.K. In addition, Malaysia’s CIMB Bank is bringing multi-QR terminals to merchants, and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is using sound waves in a payment system.

The U.K.’s Marks & Spencer is turning to a “Mobile, Pay, Go” service to enable consumers to check out in less than one minute, the Mirror reported. The retailer is planning to roll out the service to six of its locations in time for the holidays after running a test at two stores. At one particular location, the retailer reported that 20 percent of its sales are made via smartphones – and consumers buy a total of 170 products every hour. Marks & Spencer’s Sacha Berendji told the Mirror, “Our customers – especially those who come to us for lunch – are so busy, any tech that can speed up the shopping experience is a massive benefit to them.”

In Malaysia, CIMB Bank has teamed up with GHL Systems Bhd to bring merchants multi-QR (quick response) terminals, The Sun Daily reported. Partners for the terminal include Boost, kiplePay, Alipay, Touch ‘n Go Digital, MCash and Vcash. Already, consumers can use the system at some locations of NSK, Super Seven and House of Leather. In all, the system could reach 4.5 million consumers in Malaysia and 520 Chinese consumers. GHL Group CEO Danny Leong said, per the report, “Our multi-channel model is not just convenient, but also cost-saving to CIMB’s merchants, as multiple QR settlements are streamlined into a single payments provider.”

And the UAE’s First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is rolling out a payment system based on sound for its digital wallet with the help of FinTech companies Marshal and ToneTag, Gulf Business reported. The technology works by facilitating contactless payments through sound waves. Ramana Kumar, the bank’s head of payments, said per the report, “After successfully rolling out the UAE’s first QR-based payment system in March, we focused on launching a game-changing UAE-wide solution that is built around communication between smart devices.”