HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - 22October 2019 - In China, the internet platform economy is both an emergingform of productivity organisation and a new driver for economic development. OnAugust 8, the General Office of the State Council issued guidelines onpromoting the healthy development of the platform economy. It said that theprominent issues hindering the platform economy's development should be tackledwith concentrated efforts. To promote an orderly and healthy development forplatform economy, policy guidance, support and guarantee should be intensifiedaccording to the law of economy and trends.

As a typical representative of theplatform economy, e-commerce's orderly and healthy development plays animportant role in many aspects, including optimising resource allocation,boosting all enterprises' cross-border and mutual development, encouraging massentrepreneurship and innovation, promoting industrial upgrading, expandingconsumer market, and, especially, increasing employment.

PlatformEconomy Sweeps Across the Globe with Great Potential in Hong Kong and TaiwanE-commerce Markets

The global e-commerce market experiencedstrong growth in 2018. According to the E-COMMERCEIN CHINA 2018, a reportreleased by the Department of Electronic Commerce and Informatisation of the Ministryof Commerce of the People's Republic of China in May 2019, the global onlineretail turnover was $2.8 trillion with a year-on-year growth of 23.3 percent.Comparatively, the global retail turnover in 2018 was $23.9 trillion and theglobal online retail turnover rose from 10.2 percent in 2017 to 11.9 percent in2018. Online retail has gradually become an important channel for globalconsumption, and the platform economy represented by e-commerce is sweepingacross the globe, driving an irreversible globalisation trend.

According tothe National Bureau of Statistics of China, China e-commerce turnover reached 31.63 trillionyuan (about $4.72 trillion) in 2018, and online retail sales surpassed 9trillion yuan with a year-on-year growth of 23.9 percent. As aresult, China remains the biggest online retail market in the world.Regionally, e-commerce plays an important role in Hong Kong's economy. Statistaestimates that e-commerce alone will generate $4,800 million (about 32.2billion yuan) worth of revenue in Hong Kong in 2019. That figure will increasewith a compound annual growth rate of 7.4 percent from 2019 to 2023, and themarket size will reach $6,400 million (about 43 billion yuan) in 2023. Thee-commerce industry has enormous potential over the next four years.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's e-commerce market hasgrown rapidly in recent years, with users showing strong online consumptionpower. Data shows that by February 2018, Taiwan e-commerce industry saw anaverage annual growth rate of 7.4 percent in the past seven years, while theoverall retail industry's annual growth rate is only 1.9 percent. Marketresearch institute eMarketer anticipates that Taiwan's e-commerce will be ableto maintain a 7 percent annual growth from 2018 to 2022, indicating there isstill considerable room for growth and development in Taiwan's e-commercemarket.

ChaosBehind Prosperity: Frequent E-commerce Fraud Leaves Consumers in Urgent Need ofa Safe Market Environment

As e-commerce and mobile payment havebecome increasingly convenient, new fraudulent means are also emerging.According to a global e-commerce fraud report released by Pymnts.com in October2017, e-commerce fraud would cause a $58 billion loss in 2017. The "UndergroundIndustry" behind e-commerce fraud is widespread, affecting numerous links ofe-commerce, including account registration, identity fraud, advertising andtraffic diversion, and loan payments.

According to the latest 2019 GlobalIdentity and Fraud Report released by Experian, more than 2 in 5 consumersworldwide have already experienced a fraudulent event online at some point intheir lives, with the highest incidence occurring in the United States and thelowest in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Even the marketplace thatis most effective in mitigating online fraud has potentially left a full thirdof its digital customers vulnerable.

According to Experian's 2019 GlobalIdentity and Fraud Report (Asia-Pacific Edition), shopping online for goods and services is the mostcited online activity. Fifty percent of businesses surveyed in the Asia-Pacificregion reported an increase in fraud losses over the past 12 months fromaccount originations and account takeovers -- both potentially damaging to brand reputation. This is slightly lowerthan the global average of 55 percent. Over the past 12 months, 16 percent ofconsumers in China reported fraudulent incidents with electronic/mobilecommerce marketplaces, compared with 8 percent in Hong Kong. Consumerconfidence in businesses' ability to safely confirm their online identity ismoderate. Only 42 percent of consumers indicated that they have complete orvery high confidence, with consumers in Hong Kong and Japan expressing theleast confidence -- 21 percent and 13 percent respectively -- with Hong Kongconsumers significantly more hesitant to share personal data.

Experian'sProducts and Services Act as "Combined Blows" Against E-commerce Fraud,Safeguarding the Healthy Development of the Platform Economy

As a leadingglobal information servicescompany, Experian is committed to helping businesses combat fraud with newdata and analytical tools. It has invested significantly in optimising existinganti-fraud solutions and enabling automated decisioning to successfullyidentify varied online fraud in an increasingly competitive market and wincustomers' trust. Among Experian's products and services, solutions like FraudNet, Hunter and CrossCore™ can help prevent fraud andprovide real-time fraud prevention advice in every stage of a customer'slifecycle, including account application and opening, identity theft andtransaction fraud, offering consumers and businesses across all industriesmulti-protection against e-commerce fraud.

With theincreasing frequency of e-commerce transactions, fraudsters and gangs areconstantly updating and evolving their tricks. Online fraud works toexploit the weak links and loopholes of digitalisation, while remaining hidden.These organisations often disguise themselves as most valuable customers beforejeopardizing legal accounts. To catch a criminal, you have to think like one.

Considering this, Experian developedFraudNet, a fraud detection solution that quickly tracks trusted customers. Itis specially designed for banks, retailers, financial institutions or anybusinesses dependent on digital channels for customer acquisition andtransactions. FraudNet recognises consumers through understanding their digitaldevice interactions across multiple channels. As a scalable, risk assessmentand intervention solution, it identifies every device visiting to highlightfraud indicators including inconsistencies and transaction volume and velocityfrom a single device. As such, FraudNet is cost-effective for reducing fraudand allowing legitimate transactions.

For any organisation that deals withapplication fraud data across multiple channels, Hunter, another solutiondeveloped by Experian, can protect customers against fraudsters and identitytheft. The first and best strategy to reduce fraud losses is prevention,identifying and stopping fraudsters at the point of application. Using provendetection rules, Hunter screens for, and highlights potentially fraudulentapplications, enabling fraudsters to be stropped before they become a customer,increasing fraud savings and assisting in management and control of bad debt.

Experian also designed CrossCore™, the first smart, open,plug-and-play platform for fraud and identity services to help businesses copewith the ever-changing, complex and challenging world of fraud prevention. It combines API with powerful workflow anddecisioning functions while supporting a best-in-class approach to managing aportfolio of services that work together in any combination -- includingExperian solutions, third-party services and client systems. CrossCore™ allows you to connect,access, and orchestrate decisions across multiple systems more effectively withan open platform, delivering both visibility and agility.

As fraud has become increasingly frequent,Experian is committed to deploying advanced technology and providing solutionsfor businesses. While protecting consumer's information security, Experian canreduce misjudgment rate, improve customer experience and increase turnover forclients. Compared with its peers, most of whom adopt third-party solutions,Experian can self-develop technology with local teams to provide customisedreal-time services. Besides, thanks to its strong research and developmentability and rich international experiences accumulated in the industry,Experian can effectively update its technologies and products according tochanges in fraud. While expanding its business in the Chinese market, Experianis making constant efforts in accelerating Chinese e-commerce industry'stransformation to the path of high-quality development. Together with China'se-commerce industry, Experian is committed to further safeguarding andpromoting the development quality of China's platform economy.