Japan's PayPay and SMBC Enhance Cross-Border Services with AI Translation and QR Payments

Japanese financial sector companies PayPay and SMBC have introduced new services to enhance cross-border transactions. PayPay, a mobile payment platform, has integrated UnionPay QR payments into its merchant network through the HIVEX platform.

This integration allows UnionPay App users from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau to register their cards directly within the app and make purchases at participating PayPay merchants without needing to download the PayPay app. The service supports 36 overseas payment services spanning 17 markets, covering approximately 80% of international visitors to Japan.

Separately, SMBC has developed an AI-powered interpreter application called SMBC-Interpreter, which uses OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 model to provide live voice translations and synchronized on-screen text for employees communicating with customers in foreign languages. The bank stated that neither the original audio nor the generated translation is stored in the application or connected external services.