Seven additional prominent e-wallets and payment apps from Asia have been formally accepted by Ant Group into the “Alipay+-in-China” Program (A+China Program). Users of mPay (Macao SAR, China), Hipay (Mongolia), Changi Pay, OCBC, Naver Pay, Toss Pay, and TrueMoney (Thailand) will be able to use their familiar home e-wallet on their own phone to enjoy seamless mobile payment experience across Alipay’s vast merchant network in the Chinese mainland.
With the recent acquisitions, there are now 10 foreign e-wallets that are recognized on the Chinese mainland. In late 2022, the Program was piloted by Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia), Kakao Pay (South Korea), and AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China). In Southeast and East Asia, various payment options are used by around 175 million people.
Wherever Alipay is accepted, users of these e-wallets can use their own payment app to make secure, easy, cashless purchases at fair exchange rates. Through Alipay+ Rewards, a digital cross-border marketing hub connected into particular wallet apps, they can also take advantage of additional promotional offers. The teams behind the wallets are also offering their roaming users accustomed customer service, supported by Alipay+’s advanced smart payment technology.
With the A+China Program, Alipay+ also formally welcomes five new mobile payment partners to its extensive merchant network, including Hipay, Changi Pay, OCBC, Naver Pay, and Toss Pay.Alipay+, a collection of international mobile payment, marketing, and digitalization products created by Ant Group’s International Business Group, enables payment partners to link local and international retailers with international digital consumers.
Alipay+ works with more than 20 mobile payment partners across Asia, who together serve more than 1.4 billion customer accounts, and serves 5 million merchants in 56 regions outside of China. With the help of the A+China Program, Alipay+ may now access China’s vast merchant network and tens of millions of points of sale (POS).
The People’s Bank of China’s direction, along with assistance from NetsUnion Clearing Corporation, e-wallet partners, international card associations, and other Chinese partner financial institutions, make the A+China Program possible. In order to use mobile payment and digital life services in China, tourists can also decide to link their foreign bank cards to an updated international Alipay version.
To welcome Asian athletes, supporters, and tourists, Ant Group is launching massive merchant education and marketing operations across the Chinese mainland, particularly in the most popular tourist towns. According to Douglas Feagin, Senior Vice President of Ant Group and Head of Alipay+ Cross-Border Mobile Payment Services, Alipay+’s future strategy will focus on growing its partner and merchant network as well as improving the digital operational capabilities of SMEs.
“A rising number of mobile payment service providers, including mobile wallets, banking apps, independent merchant apps, and super-apps, are joining this ecosystem of international digital trade. To assist our partners and merchants in achieving solid, omni-channel growth, we will invest more quickly and heavily in payment and digital marketing technology, according to Feagin.
“As the People’s Bank of China’s chartered clearing institution, NetsUnion Clearing Corporation offers fast, secure fund clearing and transaction information interchange services for Ant Group’s international digital wallets and cross-border mobile payments. The NetsUnion Clearing Corporation of China stated, “We are committed to offering strong support for significant cross-border mobile payment scenarios and events, such as the Hangzhou Asian Games, to help foster an open and inclusive cross-border consumption environment in China and promote high-quality dual circulation of domestic and global economic cycles.
According to Eric Jing, chairman and CEO of Ant Group, “We are deeply grateful for the leadership of the People’s Bank of China, the assistance of the NetsUnion Clearing Corporation, and the support of major international card organizations, for helping to bring the world’s mobile wallet users and overseas bank card users to China as the Official Payment Partner of the Asian Games.” “It is tremendously encouraging to see how a regional multi-party partnership is enabling small firms to flourish in cross-border trade with unheard-of innovations, and travelers to enjoy more choice and ease. To achieve our shared goal of using digital technology to improve the world, we look forward to expanding and deepening our relationship.
Between March and August 2023, the total number of payments made in China using the pilot A+China wallets Kakao Pay, Touch ‘n Go eWallet, and AlipayHK increased 47 times. The most popular destinations for tourists from South Korea, Malaysia, and Hong Kong SAR are Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. The three most frequent contexts for these transactions are in the food and beverage industry, retail, and transportation.
PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that by 2030, there will be a roughly double- to triple-growth in cashless transactions. While China dominates the region in terms of the use of digital wallets, Southeast Asia has emerged as the region with the fastest-growing mobile payment sector globally. According to FIS research, between 2018 and 2023, digital wallets in the area (except from China) would have more than doubled their share of e-commerce transaction value and increased by six times their proportion of point-of-sale payment transaction value.
Source- Travel daily