PayPal in Singapore

PayPal is betting that its online payment service will take off in Singapore.

Singapore maybe, but it'll likely face problems in places like China and Vietnam. You need high Internet penetration for one and user trust. When you order something in China, it gets personally delivered to your hotel or home -- then you hand the delivery dude or gal your wad of cash. Consumers there don't trust giving information over the phone or online.

Any bets on how long it'll take to change consumer behavior in China?


The Business Times Singapore

November 7, 2007 Wednesday

PayPal opens international HQ in S'pore;
It will also set up new technology development centre

BYLINE: Ong Boon Kiat

SECTION: SINGAPORE

LENGTH: 391 words

PAYPAL, the worldwide online payments system, is setting up its new international headquarters in Singapore. The company yesterday also announced that it would establish a new technology development centre here, which will require more than 200 new staff members over five years.

The moves will swell the size of PayPal's 30-strong Neil Road office, which it shares with its parent, the online auction firm eBay. The office was set up last year.

PayPal chief technology officer Scott Thompson said yesterday that PayPal had been attracted by the talent pool and business environment in Singapore. Establishing an international HQ, he added, reflected the increasingly global nature of PayPal's business.

PayPal took in $470US million in revenue in its third financial quarter, with 43 per cent of it coming from outside the US. Next year, international revenue is expected to surpass US revenue, he said. As international HQ, the Singapore facility will co-ordinate PayPal's business entities outside the US and Canada, Mr Thompson said.

The facility will also house a new technology development centre, its second in Asia after Chennai. Like the Indian facility, it will contribute to the development of PayPal's global payment products.