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Promoting the Dissemination of Payments Completed on Chat Screens
- Free Licensing and Development Support for Chat Payment Tools Launches -

December 19, 2018

GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.
GMO Epsilon, Inc.

GMO Payment Gateway, Inc. (TSE 1st Section: 3769, President and Representative Director Issei Ainoura, hereinafter, "GMO-PG") of the GMO Internet Group, which develops comprehensive payment-related services and financial-related services, and a consolidated company of GMO-PG, GMO Epsilon, Inc. (President and Representative Director Yusuke Arai, hereinafter, "GMO-EP"), will initiate the promotion of chat payments that utilize a payment-processing patent that involves "completing payments on chat screens" (Patent number 6318432, hereinafter, "the patent" ).1
Specifically, it will offer free provision2 of the patent licensing to partnered companies and other E-commerce operators and support operators3 who promote the spread of chat payments through methods other than licensing4 by providing support for chat payment tools.
To kick things off, GMO-EP will provide the latter method of support mentioned above by cooperating with PROFESSY (President and Representative Director Osamu Iwasaki, hereinafter, "PROFESSY"), which provides fully automated web service tools. PROFESSY will begin offering the chat payment tool, qualva payment, starting today, December 19, 2018.

1 This patent (invented by Issei Watanabe) is something that GMO-PG purchased from team-A Corporation Co., Ltd.
2 The licensing from GMO-EP will be in the form of a sublicense.
3 This is on the condition that payment services provided by GMO-PG or GMO-EMP are used.
4 Support will be provided after the terms of secondhand use of the patent are agreed upon.

Promoting the spread of Chat Payments

【Background and Overview】

The domestic E-commerce market in Japan reached a value of 16.5 trillion yen (9.1 y-o-y increase) 5 in 2017, and trends show that it will continue expanding. Smartphone usage for purchasing products on E-commerce websites was recorded at 35%, a 7-point increase from the two years from 2015 to 2017 6, contributing greatly to the expansion of the E-commerce market.
However, while most chat functions can handle document requests, customer service such as inquiries on products and services, and recommendations based on entered information, purchasing products requires moving to a separate page for purchasing, which may lead to a loss of customers.
These circumstances led GMO-PG and GMO-EP to expect an increase in demand for an environment that allows buyers to make payments and complete their purchases on the chat screen without having to transfer pages. In order to work towards spreading chat payments, GMO-PG and GMO-EP acquired a payment-processing patent. GMO-PG and GMO-EP will work on the following to promote the spread of chat payments.

(1) Free provision of patent licensing to partnered companies and other E-commerce operators.
(2) Supporting the development of chat payment tools for operators that participate in disseminating chat payments.

Furthermore, starting today, on December 19, 2018, GMO-PG and GMO-EP will provide chat payment adoption and development services by using the patent owned by GMO-PG and the payment services of both companies. Please send inquiries via the URL below.(Only available in Japanese)
URL:(GMO-PG) https://www.gmo-pg.com/service/chat/
   (GMO-EP) https://www.epsilon.jp/service/business/chat_payment.html

5 METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) FY2017 Survey of Infrastructure Development Status for Data-driven Society in Japan (E-Commerce Market Survey)
6 The share of transactions utilizing smartphones in the sale of goods on the B2C E-commerce market, taken from the material above.

【About "qualva payment"】

"qualva payment" provided by PROFESSY is a chat bot electronic payment system service whose system is linked with the payment services that GMO-EP provides. A conversational robot smoothly navigates customers by registering them and making credit card payments across various websites that handle electronic payments. It provides various functions that aim to increase the acquisition of new customers by maximizing customer experience.

【About GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.】

GMO-PG offers comprehensive payment-related services and financial services to 102,484 establishments (GMO-PG Group as of the end of September 2018) including internet shops and other online vendors, NHK, and public organizations such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the National Tax Agency. It focuses on payment services while offering value-added services that lead to the growth of the establishment, with over 3 trillion yen processed annually.
As the leading company in the payment industry, it is expanding its business field by providing solutions to financial institutions, Fintech services such as after delivery payments and lending, and offline payment processing businesses such as IoT to contribute to the cashless movement in Japan. Furthermore, it is expanding globally by providing overseas payment services, as well as forming capital and business alliances with overseas payment companies.
GMO-PG strives to become the driving force behind new innovation and become the infrastructure of payment processes by realizing safe and convenient payments.

【About GMO Epsilon, Inc.】

GMO-EP is an operator that provides payment processing services with no initial costs and transaction processing fees.7
As of the end of September 2018, it has been used by 32,878 E-commerce establishments.
Contracting with GMO-EP can cut labor and costs because it allows the combined use of credit card payments, convenience store payments, E-wallets, smartphone carrier billing, and various payment methods and shipping services while combining the payments received from the buyers and the shipping charges, eliminating the need to create a system for each payment operator. It is also a member of the GMO Internet Group, which is listed on the 1st section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and since the security of its system adheres to standards such as PCI DSS and ISMS, it provides an environment that E-commerce operators can use with peace of mind.

7 Transaction processing fees refer to credit card authorizations (acquisition of authorization numbers) and billings, which require a fee for every communication with credit card companies.

【Related Links】

"qualva payment"
URL : https://qualva.com/payment.html
GMO-PG (Service)
URL : https://www.gmo-pg.com/en
GMO-PG (Company Profile)
URL : https://corp.gmo-pg.com/en
GMO-EP
URL : https://www.epsilon.jp/

(In the event of any discrepancy between the original and the English version, the Japanese version shall prevail.)

【Press Inquiries】
GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.
Corporate Value Creation Strategy Division
TEL
+81-3-3464-0182
E-mail
pr@gmo-pg.com
GMO Internet Group
Group Public / Investor Relations
TEL
+81-3-5456-2695
E-mail
pr@gmo.jp
【Service Inquiries】
GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.
Innovation Partners Division
TEL
+81-3-3464-2323
E-mail
info@gmo-pg.com
GMO Epsilon, Inc.
TEL
+81-3-6415-6755
E-mail
support@epsilon.jp

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