LINE Pay
“Can a messenger-native wallet become the default regulated payments and banking layer across Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand?”
Founded2014
HQTokyo, Japan (with regional entities in Taiwan and Thailand)
IndustryFintech / Consumer banking
The story
Launched 2014 as an in-app payments feature for LINE messenger's then-500M users; the 2015 WebPay acquisition gave it Stripe-like merchant acquiring rails. The product has since fragmented into regional regulated entities — LINE Pay EPI / 連加電子支付 in Taiwan (now publicly listed), LINE BK in Thailand (a Kasikornbank JV offering nano-finance credit lines), and the original Japanese LINE Pay business — each with its own license and product set. The strategic question is now whether LINE Pay can be a regional super-app wallet competing with TrueMoney, GrabPay and Rakuten Pay across Japan/Taiwan/Thailand/SEA.
Product timeline
2014
LINE Pay launched as in-app payments for LINE messenger users· banking
2015
Acquired Japanese Stripe-like startup WebPay to power merchant payments· acquisition
2020
Launched LINE BK in Thailand via JV with Kasikornbank (Kasikorn Line Co., Ltd.)· banking
2024
LINE Pay Taiwan listed on Taipei Exchange (TWSE: 7722)· ipo
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by LINE Pay
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
5 layers disclosed in LINE Pay’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
LINE Pay (self-operated)LINE Pay Money (self-operated, via 連加電子支付 / LINE Pay EPI Taiwan)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
8 more providers across 4 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.