We currently find ourselves in a frenzy of e-payment revolution: the payments field is dotted with players as diverse in product as they are in approach. From bitcoin and blockchain enthusiasts, to crowdfunding platforms, to every type of payment app imaginable, everyone seems to agree only on one thing: the traditional credit card's days are numbered.

Yet maybe the idea of carrying a card in your pocket is not—after all, everyone's done it for over half a century now, the infrastructure for it has been in place for generations, and, well, people are used to it. Mr Hunz Lee, whom we feature in this article in our continuing series of FinTech spotlights, is the CEO of APS.

Mr Lee (pictured above) spoke to us about how the card may live on in a completely retooled fashion. First, though, I asked him for a description of his company in 140 characters or less:

APS is a FinTech security company specialised in credit/debit cards with innovative technologies such as e-paper and communication tools.

OK, with no character limit... what exactly is the APS card?

The APS card functions no differently from a conventional card, but with the added feature that it's equipped with technologies like e-paper, Bluetooth, a battery, and an NFC antenna... all fitted to meet ISO standards. It's less than 0.84 mm thick.

"APS" stands for Activation Power System, which provides fraud protection. When you make a payment with it, the credit or debit card needs to be activated by pressing the power button, which then prompts you to confirm the transaction via your smartphone. All the data contained on the card is available only when the user activates the card—at all other times the credit card information remains hidden and blocked.

There are lots of FinTech companies trying to revolutionise payment at the moment. How is APS different?

APS is all about security, with technologies to block fraud attempts, which cost people 40 billion USD each year. The APS card is also not an electronic appliance like some, or even most, other e-payment offerings. Rather, it's the same as a conventional credit card and can thus utlilise the existing payment networks and terminals that are already widespread and firmly in use.

I would also like to mention is the price—when it comes to revolutions, I can indeed say that we have revolutionised the price for such an e-payment solution.

What stage of growth are you in currently?

We incorporated as a company in April this year, but we had been preparing for that for over two years. APS has made a huge effort to make the price reasonable, so I would say that the first milestone was achieving our incomparably low price.

We've also solved and patented the battery issue. One of our biggest challenges was making this battery-equipped credit card last more than five years, since that is the normal credit card expiry term, without forcing users to go through the effort of recharging—because recharging a credit/debit card is something I, and probably everyone, would not like to do.

The next milestone that we're looking forward to is set to occur in the third and fourth quarter of this year: we will be testing real, bank-issued APS credit cards in Luxembourg.

As we are based in Luxembourg, our marketing strategy involves utilising existing supply channels by opening our patent to speed up the spread of the APS card, first in Europe then the US and Asia.

How did you come to be set up in Luxembourg?

Europe was our first target market because of its EMV credit card diffusion, so we were already looking in this part of the world. Luxembourg is a gateway to the European market geographically and economically, and we were (and are) also impressed by the Luxembourg government's support for the FinTech industry. Plus, the easy networking has also been an attraction. So far, I can't complain about the business environment but if I must name a disadvantage it would be the speed of business, for example some compliance processes, which can be a bit slower than I expected.

And finally... what are the last three apps that you downloaded?

The last three apps? Those would be... atHome.lu as I'm a newcomer here, SkyScanner as I travel a lot, and Linkedin for networking.

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