Chinese fintech giant Ant Group is increasing its global presence through its digital service Alipay+, aiming to connect mobile payment apps around the world.
“What we found is that people want to use their home e-wallet when they travel abroad, so they don’t have to load their card into another app that they don’t know about as well,” said SVP. , said Douglas Feagin.President of Ant Group, an affiliate of a Chinese high-tech giant alibabahe told CNBC.
The group’s global arm, Ant International, introduced Alipay+ in 2020, allowing foreigners to use their home country’s app to access the QR code of Alipay, Ant Group’s largely domestic platform, within China. Payments can now be made by scanning a code, and payments can also be made in other countries through local partners.
“We believe there is a huge opportunity for expansion and that we can cover a relatively large area in Asia. [would] “They like to replicate in places like the Middle East, Latin America and Europe. People from all of these regions go to other regions, so it’s a huge opportunity to expand,” Feagin said.
Feijin, who is also president of Ant International, said Ant had invested in country-specific e-wallets across Asia, but the CEOs wanted to take their product overseas.
Feijing said the company also had some cross-border tourism business from customers traveling outside China, but it was “mainly focused on where Chinese tourists were going.” . Through Alipay, Ant had entered Europe and the United States, where Chinese tourism was booming even before the coronavirus pandemic.
Ant, the company behind Alipay+, is looking to make the most of its early entry into these markets.
“Given the advantage that Alipay is already accepted by many merchants around the world, one of our first steps was to: [to] Convert those merchants to Alipay+ merchants. So instead of just accepting wallets, we can accept many wallets,” Feagin said.
According to , Alipay+ currently connects 88 million merchants in 57 countries and regions to 1.5 billion consumer accounts across more than 25 e-wallets and banking apps. ant.
growing market
As part of its overseas expansion, Ant has purchased shares in several companies, including: Singapore payment company 2C2P In 2022, South Korea’s Kakao Pay will be in 2017.
Ant also partners with national digital payment services, including: SGQR in Singaporemalaysia DuitNow QR and Korean zero pay last year.
“Ant Group’s initial vision for global expansion was centered around Southeast Asia. The company acquired strategic stakes in e-wallets in all major economies in Southeast Asia,” said founder and director of consultancy Capronasia. Zenon Capron said. January report.
Ant is also expanding into emerging markets, including: Sri Lanka Same goes for Cambodia. The company has also expanded into Europe and the Middle East, partnering with European e-wallets. Tinaba Last July and nexi Also in February dubai duty free shop in the Middle East earlier this year.
There are also growth opportunities in established markets for the company, such as Singapore and South Korea, where many people use mobile payments, Feijin said, but it’s still far fewer than people in other countries. .
“There’s a lot of room for growth. I think a lot of people just think about using traditional payment methods when they go abroad.”
“Given the large markets visited by many tourists, such as Thailand and Japan, the potential for mobile app payments to grow is huge.”
From problem to solution
“Following a reorganization by Chinese regulators that coincided with various geopolitical tensions that affected its ability to expand in certain markets, Ant revised its global expansion strategy. Alipay+ was aimed at solving the interoperability problem of
Feagin said the company first targeted countries with large populations to rapidly expand its user base. We also looked at major tourist destinations such as Japan, Thailand, and Singapore.
“These are big markets for people who want to visit, so we focused on building seller coverage there,” Feagin said.
Now, we are doubling down on our global expansion, with our eyes set on European, Latin American and Middle Eastern markets.
– CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.