Google identified three Asian countries and one other emerging market for the expansion of its Tez mobile payments service, Financial Times (FT) reported.

In an interview, Google’s head of Tez and VP of its next billion users initiative, Diana Layfield, told FT the shortlist for expansion had been drawn-up, and subsequent launches would depend on internal and external “conversations” in the next few months.

Factors deemed important for target markets include political appetite for the adoption of digital payments, low credit card penetration and limited access to NFC – the preferred point of sale system for contactless payments made with its main mobile wallet brand Google Pay.

Layfield said the company assessed markets across Latin America, Africa and the Middle East for expansion markets, however three of the four markets on its shortlist for its next launches are in Asia. The identity of the countries was not revealed.

She added the company expected to begin preparations for roll-out later this year.

Google Tez was launched in India in 2017 as a completely independent brand to its core mobile payments proposition used around the world – at the time branded Android Pay but currently the subject of a gradual rebrand to Google Pay.