Asia-Pacific

 As US President Barack Obama starts his trip to Asia on Thursday he faces serious challenges in the region posed by increasing importance of China who in the near term will become the largest economy displacing thus Japan from its number 1 position. Soon after becoming a new prime minister in Japan Yukio Hatoyama announced plans to form a new East Asian trading bloc with rival China - one that would exclude the United States. That means the US dominance in the Asia-Pacific region is under threat posed by China.

Visa’s research revealed that 61 % of online shoppers in the Asia-Pacific region are satisfied with current levels of online payment security, but more can be done. Through market research firm Ipsos, the payment card company surveyed over 9,100 Internet users in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore who went online at least once a week.