Microsoft takes on Apple and Google in payments space

Microsoft is readying to enter the digital payments space and take on competitors such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet, according to US fintech blogger Faisal Khan.

Khan claims he has found evidence Microsoft has begun establishing a company called Microsoft Payments.

After hearing rumours of Microsoft’s movement into the space, Khan searched various financial regulator websites in the United States for new ‘money transmitter’ licences.

He says he found documents revealing Microsoft Payments is applying for a money transmitter licence across different states in the US and has already been granted the licence by the state of Idaho.

The world’s biggest tech giants have rushed into the mobile payment space in recent years, with Apple, Google and now Microsoft all preparing to make digital payments a pillar of their business model going forward.