Razer’s Tan responds after Nets CEO questions epayments proposal

Razer CEO Tan Min-Liang on stage at Tech in Asia Singapore 2017. Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

When Nets answered the Singaporean prime minister’s call and outlined its plans for a nation-wide mobile payments system earlier this week, it was inevitable that Razer’s proposal – published a week earlier – would be part of the conversation.  

Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, Nets CEO Jeffrey Goh was somewhat skeptical about Razer’s claim that it could roll-out its proposed epayments system within 18 months. Moreover, he suggested that his company – which was founded in 1985 by Singapore’s three largest banks to establish a national debit network – has an advantage in this area over computer gaming firm Razer and other companies that have not historically focused on payments as their core business.

However, Goh did indicate that Nets is open both to collaboration with other companies and supporting proposals other than its own. “We’re not here to compete. We believe whoever can offer the best user experience will win,” he said. “Whether we are competing with them or not, we want to help, and we all want to make an epayments system that works. So if Razer has a wallet that’s successful, will we stop them from using our QR codes? No.”

Razer CEO Tan Min-Liang today responded to Nets’ proposal – and Goh’s comments – in a Facebook post.

“While I would’ve appreciated he didn’t take a swipe at me, the Nets CEO is absolutely right and we should support him 100 percent if he can roll out the epayments network for Singapore,” wrote Tan. “My interest in moving Singapore to a cashless nation is purely one for national interest and not for personal/corporate gain.”

Regarding the “take a swipe at me” comment, Tan’s post featured a link to a Today report on the Nets briefing, which seemed to suggest that Goh had been more than mildly critical about Razer’s proposal.

Tan went on to suggest that Razer was not completely without credentials in the payments space, having built an infrastructure around its own virtual currency, zGold. “Since launch some six months ago, we have opened about three million wallets – for gamers all over the world who want access to pay in over 2,500 of top game titles… Singapore’s epayment system would be a fraction of the global potential of our zGold business. As such, if someone could get the epayments solution rolled out in Singapore, we’d be all for it as we wouldn’t need to divert our resources to look at this project.”

Here is Tan’s Facebook post in full:

Tan’s proposal has come in for rather more stinging criticism than that offered by Goh. While there were many positive comments on the Facebook post announcing the plan, others described it as “general and lacking in details” and “a huge chunk of marketing fluff.”