Alipay Expands

Ant Financial Service group is expanding globally, forming partnerships with American, Asian and European merchants though its Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. product Alipay.

Already accepted by 80,000 merchants in 70 countries, Ant Financial expects one million merchants to support Alipay within three years. Initially, the expansion will most benefit Chinese tourists who are users of the Ant Financial Alipay mobile payments platform. The current expansion will primarily focus on Asian countries, although destinations particularly attractive to Chinese travelers, such as London’s Harrods Department Store and various San Francisco, California tourist sites, will be accepting Alipay immediately.

Alipay has enjoyed widespread adoption among Chinese consumers, who have embraced mobile payments for everything from large-ticket housewares purchases, to transportation ticketing, to convenience-store incidentals and beyond. Over 160 million Alipay transactions are processed per day, and in China, Alipay holds 70% of the mobile payments market share.