China’s Alipay has announced a series of partnerships with some of Europe’s largest financial institutions and payments providers to drive its expansion in the region.
Alipay, which is operated by Ant Financial, has struck deals with BNP Paribas, Barclays, UniCredit, and SIX Payment Services to deliver Alipay services across Europe, enabling an additional 930,000 merchants to join Alipay’s European network.
Alipay users will be able to conduct transactions at points of sale via the barcode-scanning method they currently use in China.
Douglas Feagin, senior vice president of Ant Financial and president of Alipay International, said: “We are excited to be partnering with leading European financial institutions to enable our users to pay with Alipay in even more locations and scenarios across Europe.
“Our users’ lifestyles are increasingly global, so it’s vital we are able to work with the leading payment providers across the world to bring our trusted and convenient services to Alipay users wherever and whenever they need them.”
The new partnerships with leading European financial institutions mark the next step in Alipay’s international expansion and will broaden the institutions’ access to Chinese tourists, who spent $215 billion abroad in 2015, an increase of 53 per cent from 2014, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
Feagin added: “We already have partnerships with some of Europe’s most well-known retailers, which have proven extremely popular with traveling Chinese consumers. By working with financial institutions who already have a massive footprint in Europe, we are taking our presence in the continent to the next level.”
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