After a yearlong battle trying to convince US regulators about their acquisition of MoneyGram, Alibaba’s Ant Financial called off the deal; having a significant presence in the US is the one area that Alibaba head Jack Ma has yet to succeed; the $1.2bn deal would have helped to establish their Alipay product immediately; this looks to potentially ratchet up trade issues between the two countries as the new administration has taken an aggressive stance towards China. Source.
The World Economic Forum in collaboration with The European Sting puts forward the interesting idea that the impact of fintech...
Ant Financial has rolled out the world's first commercial application of a payment system that identifies payers using facial recognition technology; starting from September 1, a KFC restaurant in Hangzhou allows customers to authenticate their payments by having their faces scanned; the whole process, which takes about ten seconds, does not require users to take out their cell phones; the function is powered by Face ++ technology developed by Beijing startup Megvii. Source
Alipay has partnered with Openpay in Mexico to further their expansion into the Americas; users of Alipay will now be able to use the service to make purchases at businesses that are affiliated with Openpay; Souheil Badran, President of Alipay Americas stated, “An increasing number of Chinese consumers are shopping for products in Mexico that they can’t find at home, and they want to be able to purchase those items with the payment method they use most often. Our partnership with Openpay not only connects Mexican merchants with Chinese consumers seeking their products and services, but also opens new revenue channels for merchants in Mexico. We are thrilled to be partnering with Openpay as we continue to expand the reach of Alipay throughout the Americas.” Source
The proposed relationship would allow Chinese consumers traveling to the US to use their Alipay Mobile Wallet; Pablo Simone, head of product and strategy for Chase Merchant Services stated, “We are always looking for ways to deliver more value to our merchants and bring them closer to their customers. A relationship with Alipay would create opportunities that enable Chinese tourists to transact in a way they are familiar with.”; it is estimated that four million Chinese consumers will visit North America this year. Source
China’s fintech market is the biggest and most powerful in the world, especially when it comes to Alipay and WeChat...
Alibaba payment affiliate Ant Financial has announced the acquisition of helloPay; the company is based in Singapore and will help support Alipay's strategic growth initiatives in Southeast Asia; its primary payments focus is on serving e-commerce platforms; helloPay will be rebranded as Alipay following the acquisition. Source
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Chinese tourists are able to use Alipay at more than 200,000 U.S. locations but the company does not have plans...
In the last 18 months there has been a wave of consolidation in the payments sector and that trend looks...