With more and more payment players and their dogs doing the wallet app + instant issue prepaid card thing, it was only a matter of time before banks got into the act. SMBC announced and released the V POINT app today. Think of it as a re-branded Toyota Wallet app without the QR Code bit and multi payment network strategy: you download the app, create an account and a prepaid Apple Pay (iD) or Google Pay (VISA) card that can be recharged from a bank account or a credit card or with points. And because VISA Japan has yet to sign a deal with Apple, Apple Pay users get a FeliCa iD prepaid card while Google Pay users get a EMV contactless VISA prepaid card, no dual protocol for anyone.
The big sales point is…yes another reward point system, V POINT, and it comes with a dumb looking mascot too, a SMBC corporate green ‘beaver’ which rhymes with ‘VISA’ in Japanese…sorta. Every ¥200 card purchase earns one V POINT. Points can be used for a card recharge, just like Suica, or for purchases at participating V POINT stores and online shopping. How well this goes down with card issuers under the SMBC umbrella like Docomo d Card and their expanding D Point empire, is anybody’s guess. I suspect this move will rock that relationship (to the breaking point?) and some others as well.
During the V POINT online press event SMBC also announced that new SMBC issue plastic cards will no longer display a card number for VISA and Mastercard.
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