BNP Paribas has partnered with Ant International, a Singapore-headquartered digital payment technology company, to improve cross-border payments for merchants and consumers in Europe.

As part of the partnership BNP Paribas will work with Alipay+, a cross-border mobile payment and digitalisation service run by Ant International, to enable merchants using BNP Paribas' acquiring service in Europe to accept payments from over 25 international mobile partners via Alipay+.

The companies will also work together on WorldFirst, a digital payment and financial services platform from Ant International, with BNP Paribas sponsoring the platform’s participation in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) scheme.

The move will allow WorldFirst to operate in the Single Euro Payments Area and launch products in the region.

Additionally, BNP Paribas said it will explore innovations in tokenised deposits for global treasury management through Ant International’s Whale platform. The collaboration aims to improve the efficiency and speed of global fund settlements through the use of tokenised deposits.

“This new agreement with Ant International deepens a long-term collaboration that started in 2016 when Alipay+ was rolled-out in Europe,” said Pierre Fersztand, head of cash management, payments, trade solutions and factoring at BNP Paribas. “This is a key step in bolstering our service offering while leveraging on each other’s strengths to offer our clients the best service when it comes to cross-border payments.”

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