Wirecard Teams Up With Cognigy For Chatbot Payments, YES BANK Rolls Out Cashless System

Welcome to The Axis, your look at payments news from around the world. Coverage includes Germany’s Wirecard works with Cognigy on digital payments within chatbot conversations, India’s private sector YES BANK has introduced a cashless payment system for Smart City Udaipur and JD has launched stores in Indonesia that allow customers to pay via QR code.

Germany-based Wirecard is rolling out digital payments through chatbot conversations with AI software firm Cognigy, the companies said in an announcement. Through the technology, consumers from the U.S. and Germany can checkout and pay for their items as they chat with a virtual sales consultant. The companies said that there is “enormous potential to change personalized online retail” as Facebook, in particular, has over 200,000 chatbots alone.

In addition, HubSpot Research found that nearly half of consumers in six countries would be open to purchasing an item with the sole help of a virtual adviser. To that end, Cognigy’s founder, Sascha Poggemann, said, “It is a great benefit for consumers if they can find and purchase products directly on their smartphone by way of automated, fully digital dialogue.”

In other news, India’s private sector YES BANK has rolled out a cashless payment system for Smart City Udaipur through a partnership with the Udaipur Municipal Corporation (UMC), News Barons reported. Through the project, the bank has digitized retail payments and payments for government to citizen (G2C) services.

To that end, citizens can make payments through Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), the unified payments interface (UPI), Bharat QR or via a digital wallet. In terms of categories, citizens can make utility, grocery and transportation payments. In the announcement, YES BANK CEO Rana Kapoor said, “With this partnership, we re-affirm our commitment to the government’s initiative of propelling digital payments in India.”

JD has rolled out retail stores for customers in Indonesia that allow consumers to make payments by using QR codes — and deliveries groceries to customers at their homes, The Independent reported. The stores, which sell items such as groceries and beverages, are located at train stations in the Jakarta area. In the future, the stores could come to other transportation hubs such as airports and bus terminals.