Some pawnshops within Macau casinos have resumed offering Union Pay services, possibly illegally, according to analysts from investment bank JP Morgan.
In a note seen by Inside Asian Gaming, DS Kim and Sean Zhuang have this week described the impact of Macau’s recent crackdown on the use of Union Pay POS terminals at pawnshops inside a number of Cotai integrated resorts as “virtually negligible so far”.
Most notable though is their observation that at least some jewelry stores inside IRs are again allowing customers to use Union Pay to withdraw cash.
“Our on-the-ground checks reveal that some (not many) of the jewelry shops inside casinos have actually resumed Union Pay services recently, although they seem more cautious than before in offering such services,” Kim and Zhuang state.
Although the stores in question are likely utilizing illegal mobile POS machines, “the fact that there was no follow-up clampdown thus far probably suggests that [the crackdown] was an isolated incident and ‘more bark than bite’, in our view,” the analysts speculate.
As reported by IAG, Macau authorities removed multiple Union Pay POS terminals from pawnshops inside Cotai integrated resorts operated by Sands China, Galaxy Entertainment Group and Melco Resorts earlier this month.
The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) also issued a warning for local banks “to establish sound risk management for the provision of any authorized financial services” to tourists. In a statement issued within days of the initial crackdown, the AMCM said, “According to the legal and regulatory requirements of the ‘Prevention and Suppression of the Crime of Money Laundering’ and the AMCM’s ‘Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Guideline’, banks are obliged to perform adequate due diligence on and ongoing monitoring of the merchants in order to prevent the abuse of POS machines from conducting illegal activities.”
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