Hong Kong, 13 September 1999, Greater China Leader in design and development of electronic transaction technologies and solutions, SPECTRA Technologies has successfully designed and implemented the country's first payment processing solution - "Pay Easy" - integrating Guangzhou Telecommunications Bureau's (GTB) bill issuing and payment processing procedures with the Guangzhou Authority Office of State Administration of Taxation of China's (GAO) certification authorisation function.

Under "Pay Easy" project, 70 units of SPECTRA Technologies' award-winning Universal Electronic Money Manager (UEMM) in 33 GTB branches widespread Guangzhou city were linked to the TANDEM host by a specially-designed electronic transaction software. The switching room inside GTB's Tian He Headquarters is where this host resides and talked to the UEMMs via either lease lines or dial-up communications. The pilot project was completed on 18th May 1999 and by August 1999, over 300,000 transactions had been processed. Today the number of transaction increases on a 60% monthly rate.

Commenting on the omnipotent system which facilitates over 100,000 Guangzhou families per month, Mr Yu Xin, Chief Engineer of GTB said: "Pay Easy is strategically important to GTB and GAO. We're so proud of its great success which brings in applause shortly after launched."

"By using self-service payment terminals, both GAO and ourselves are able to eliminate costly duplicated labour, improve productivity, enhance customer service and optimise payment processing efficiency," continued Mr Yu. "Our customers, which refer to the population of Guangzhou province, do not have to queue 3 times sparing with one whole day in our branches on a monthly basis. By accessing technology, now bill settlement could be a fun task to them."

Leveraging on SEPCTRA Technologies' experience and expertise in electronic payment processing solutions, the company clearly understood both GTB and GAO's dilemmas and expectation on a one-stop-terminal solution.

"This system is a significant breakthrough in not just technology but also mechanism in payment settlement processing in Mainland. It is the first time GAO shifts to use technology instead of manpower in certification authorisation," Alfred Hung, SPECTRA Technologies' Sales & Marketing Director explained.

"Our Research & Development Centre in Hong Kong worked closely with our local Technical Centre resulting in winning the trust of the GTB and GAO, especially the latter, in pioneering the way of payment processing in the country."

The 30 Second process
Before the Pay Easy was deployed, spacious areas in GTB branches were never big enough. The couple of weeks before payment deadline in each month, queues of people could be seen in front of 3 groups of counters. The first counter was where one got his bill printed; officers of the second one collected payment and issued receipt; with the last counter manned by the IR officials for receipt stamping fulfilling the purpose of true-copy certifying.

Nowadays Guangzhou citizens do not even need a pre-requisition from the bank nor the Bureaus. Debit card holders of the 2 major banks in the province, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China, can walk in at anytime convenient to them into any GTB branch nearby. All they have to do is insert or swap the card followed by his code, select service category and key-in telephone number. Then the amount needed to be paid is shown on screen. Money is automatically transferred from the card holder's bank account to the GTB account at the same time as the "confirm button" is pressed. Most importantly, the UEMM prints and delivers receipt with GAO's official stamp as certification of true copy of the receipt. The whole process takes only 30 to 60 second.

Expansion Plan
The second phase of Pay Easy project includes over 100 units of the UEMM terminals. Full service is scheduled to be launch by end 1999. It will continue to provide bill enquiry and payment processing for the Bureau's charges on distance call, mobile phone and pager usage on top of the banks' services on debit and credit card payments and account enquiry.

"We had this idea of introducing a simple and smart payment system back in 1997. Not until we find the right partner with right experience and expertise that we decided to put it in place." Mr Yu of GTB added, " We expect UEMM will handle 300,000 transaction per month eventually."

About Universal Electronic Money Manager (UEMM)
UEMM is the CMA award winner of the 1998 Hong Kong Award for Industries. It is the strategic tool that breaks through the boundaries of time, space and human resources. It provides all cashless functions currently supported by ATM machines except it is more user-friendly, flexible, safe, secured and most of all, cost-effective. In future, electronic money will replace banknotes and coins, UEMM equips its customers with competitiveness and futuristic.

Feature Highlights: 

• Compact aluminum alloy casing with water resistance design 
• Large graphic LCD display with backlit
• Magnetic card reader & IC card reader
• Multiple SAM slots
• Secured stainless steel PIN-pad
• Self-service graphic printer, dot-matrix or thermal, with cutter & presentor

UEMM's full functions:

• Accounts Management
• Fund Transfer among accounts and IC cards
• Electronic bill payment services for credit cards, mobile phones, utilities.
• Other cashless ATM functions