Curious New Fintech Platform convertCASH Offers To Pay For Your Instalments First

A curious new fintech platform called convertCASH claims it will pay for your monthly car and home instalments first without charging any interest.

“It is interest-free, no borrowing with instant approval. We only require the users to have a credit card as security while using convertCASH’s ‘Pay for you First’ benefit. They can then pay back to the credit card up to 45 days later without any interest charge,” said convertCASH co-founder Jason Bak.

Bak said this system will eliminate the need for car and/or homeowners to borrow money from friends or family to keep up with those monthly instalments. Once relevant details are filled in, convertCASH claims it will pay the instalment within one working day.

Sounds too good to be true? We too wondered how a company providing this service can generate revenue without imposing any interest on its users. But Bak claimed that the firm’s current focus is on building a user base for its platform and cultivating an ecosystem by which revenue can be generated in the future.

He also told us that the company will eventually introduce a fee for the pay-first transactions. But he did not specify when and how much.

We also touched on the regulatory side of things which was not mentioned on its website or marketing materials but Bak emphasised that convertCASH doesn’t provide loans – you don’t borrow money from the company and use it to pay your instalments. The company simply pays for your instalments first.

According to Bak, convertCASH allows a maximum transaction amount of US$5,000 (RM20,000). “To date, we have an average amount of US$123,786 (RM500,000) transacted via convertCASH platform,” he said.

Founded in November 2020 and headquartered in Singapore, convertCASH is now available in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia. It plans to expand to Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines in the second quarter of this year and to Japan, Korea, and China in 2022.

The convertCASH app is currently available on iOS App Store, Google Play, and Huawei AppGallery. However, we do recommend you to visit their website first and make sure that you read as well as understand all of the service’s terms and conditions before making any decisions.

Intel Ordered To Pay US$2.18 Billion To Previously Inactive Company In Patent Lawsuit

A US court has ordered Intel to pay US$2.18 billion (~RM8.83 billion) to VLSI Technology for infringing two chip-related patents owned by the latter, Bloomberg said. In a strange twist, VLSI was previously inactive for 20 years from 1999, and then seemingly emerged again in 2019 just to sue Intel, The Verge noted.

Indeed, Intel lawyer William Lee told the court that VLSI didn’t have products and that the lawsuit was its only source of potential revenue. VLSI “took two patents off the shelf that hadn’t been used for 10 years and said, ‘We’d like $2 billion,’” Lee said, according to Bloomberg.

Lee called VLSI’s demand “outrageous” and argued that it didn’t deserve more than US$2.2 million (~RM8.9 million). The jury obviously disagreed, resulting in one of the largest patent-damages award in US history – equivalent to half of Intel’s fourth quarter profit.

Intel said it would appeal the court’s decision.

Here’s where it gets complicated. Electronics giant Philips bought VLSI in 1999. Later, VLSI assets find their way into NXP, a Philips spinoff company that makes chips.

A company named Freescale Semiconductor used to hold one of the patents in question, and SigmaTel the other. Freescale eventually acquired SigmaTel and then was itself acquired by NXP in 2015. Bloomberg Law said the two patents were transferred to VLSI in 2019.

Microsoft Sides With Publishers Who Want Facebook And Google To Pay For News

Microsoft is openly allying with European publishers in their efforts to force big tech platforms – particularly, Facebook and archrival Google – to pay for news content. As you may recall, both companies recently locked horns with Australia over a proposed law that would make them pay domestic news outlets.

Yesterday, Microsoft along with four European Union news industry groups unleashed a joint statement calling for the adoption of a payment mechanism similar to the one proposed in Australia. This would ensure publishers are paid their due by “gatekeepers that have dominant market power” – in other words, not Microsoft.

Many older folk would remember that Microsoft itself was once accused of abusing its dominant market power to promote its Internet Explorer browser. Of course, the argument now is, Facebook and Google are so big and powerful that the little guys can’t hope to negotiate fair payment from them without a formal legal mechanism.

Facebook may have inadvertently encouraged that perception by dramatically cutting an entire country (Australia) off from news content, causing politicians and officials around the world to be outraged and alarmed by the action. According to the Associated Press, a top European Union official voiced support for Australia and told lawmakers, “It’s up to the platforms to adapt to regulators, not the other way around.”

Facebook has since reversed that block. But will we be seeing trouble for the social media company in Europe next?

Regardless, Microsoft’s stance in this dispute is hardly surprising for obvious reasons. Two weeks ago, Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote a lengthy post detailing the company’s support for the Australian law and a healthy press. Of course, he also took the opportunity to bash Google quite a bit.

Australia Claims Google And Facebook Close To Pay-For-News Deals

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Google and Facebook are “very close” to striking “very significant commercial deals” to pay Australian media outlets for news, Bloomberg reported, citing a transcript from the minister’s office. The development, if true, could end a months-long standoff between Australia and the tech giants, which have previously threatened to block or limit their services in the country.

Frydenberg has held discussions with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the weekend. Both companies have publicly opposed a proposed Australian law that would force them to pay fees to domestic news outlets for content. That very law will be considered in the Australian Parliament this week, prodding the tech giants to agree to payment terms before it is passed.

At the same time, Seven West Media, a major Australian media company, announced that it reached a paid deal with Google to provide content for the latter’s News Showcase. According to the Associated Press, Google has struck pay deals with over 450 publications across the world since News Showcase debuted last October.

Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes praised Australian authorities and credited the proposed pay-for-news law for allowing the company to reach a deal with Google that resulted in “fair payment” and that would secure its digital future.

Despite their bluster, it seems that both companies are unwilling to concede their dominant market positions in Australia. Google rival Microsoft was already looking to capitalise on the former’s possible exit from Australia by pushing Bing as an alternative.

Many other countries, including Canada and those within the EU, have been trying to get Google and Facebook to pay local media outlets for content. As such, this development could set a significant precedent for the global journalistic industry.