2C2P, SEA’s payments company, expands to South and Central Asia

SINGAPORE – 2C2P, a Southeast Asian payments company, has inked strategic partnerships in South and Central Asia to bring e-commerce capabilities to some of the region’s largest merchants. It will process online and offline payment transactions for Himalayan Bank Limited (HBL), Nepal’s largest private bank, Nepal Airlines, the national flag carrier of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, and Air Astana, the principal airline and flag carrier of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

 

HBL is Nepal’s leading private sector commercial bank, with 42 branches across the country. Supported by 2C2P’s payments technology, debit and credit card holders of HBL can now transact internationally and domestically with merchants who accept Visa, MasterCard, JCB, Unionpay International and Diners Club International. Separately, customers of flag carriers Nepal Airlines and Air Astana can purchase their flight tickets online, securely and conveniently – modernizing what was previously a manual, cash-based process.

 

Aung Kyaw Moe, founder and Group CEO of 2C2P, said: “South and Central Asia’s technology and financial landscape is fast-evolving. These young financial markets present huge opportunities to businesses to tap into e-commerce, opening new revenue streams among new and existing customers.”

 

“We’re pleased to be working with some of the leading retailers in these regions to take advantage of key economic and demographic trends around e-commerce adoption, rising urbanization and consumer affluence, and the boom in South and Central Asia’s travel and tourism sector,” added Aung.

 

Ashoke Rana, CEO of Himalayan Bank, said: “Our mission as a bank is to enable and empower the financial needs of all our customers. As more of Nepal and South Asia comes online, these needs are changing. We’re immensely pleased to be working with 2C2P, bringing the benefits of e-commerce at an early stage of adoption to the country.”

 

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates travel and tourism contributed US$57 billion (2.4 per cent of GDP) to South Asia’s economy in 2014, forecast to increase by 6.7 per cent annually to US$116.5 billion (2.6 per cent of GDP) by 2025. In Nepal, travel and tourism amounted to 4.3 per cent of GDP in 2014, and is expected to more than double to 10 per cent of GDP by 2025. In Kazakhstan, travel and tourism reached 1.7 per cent of GDP in 2014, forecast to more than triple to 5.5 per cent of GDP by 2025. 2C2P processes billions of dollars in transactions annually by working with some of Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce and m-commerce merchants.