Corporate bits | Macau Tower holds 2017 charity walk

The Macau Tower’s Chinese New Year tradition, the Charity Walk, was held Monday. The Tower’s stairs were opened for all to climb to the Observation Deck for free.

Similar to previous years, the Charity Walk offered the “Strike it Rich” full course in the morning and the “Shortcut to Riches” half course in the afternoon.

Participants of the former were challenged with the task of climbing 1,298 steps from ground level to the Adventure Deck on level 61, while those opting for the shortcut started from level 38.

The event had a high turnout of over 1,000 participants, who received lucky gift packs after completing the race. Donation boxes were placed at various spots throughout the Tower to raise funds for Macau Red Cross, according to a statement issued by the Macau Tower.

During CNY, locals and tourists can also take part in a series of games and lucky draws at the Macau Tower for the chance to receive gifts and discounts and ring in a prosperous New Year.

Jetco to offer mobile money transfer in Macau

Hong Kong’s Joint Electronic Teller Services (Jetco), a joint venture between five banks, has teamed up with seven Macau banks to offer a dual-currency mobile money transfer service, ‘Jetco Pay P2P’.

The new service will allow customers of the participating banks to transfer both HKD and MOP to account holders of all local participating banks using only the recipient’s mobile number.

According to Telecomasia.net, the service will be gradually rolled out in Macau starting in the second half of 2017. Transactions will be protected through bank-grade security measures such as end-to-end encryption, a dynamic pin pad and a device-binding verification feature.

“With the rapid development of Macau’s economy in recent years, mobile phone penetration has also increased to nearly 200 percent, creating the perfect environment for the development of mobile payment services such as Jetco Pay P2P in the city,” Jetco CEO Angus Choi said.

“Operating on our existing inter-
bank network, Jetco Pay P2P provides the most comprehensive cross-bank fund transfer service in town.”

The seven participating banks are Banco Comercial De Macau, Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Tai Fung Bank, Bank of China – Macau Branch, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Macau, Luso International Banking and OCBC Wing Hang Bank.