Introducing innovative services without re-introducing fragmentation in the market is also going to be a huge task. On the one hand, we have to be aware that the innovation of retail payments services has a global perspective. Innovation in the United States, such as the payment services launched by international giants Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, makes its way over to Europe.
In Asia, in China, the companies Alibaba and Tencent, via their payment arms Alipay and Tenpay, are expanding their platforms for online shopping, and their internet communication platforms, into complete ecosystems for digital payments and financial services. On the other hand, we are seeing that innovative retail payment solutions are often developed based on local or regional regimes.