Alipay adds Australia as it aggressively charts global markets

By PaymentsSource

Less than a week after revealing it will bring Alipay payment options to U.S. terminals, Ant Financial has signed an agreement with Commonwealth Bank of Australia to connect merchants to Alibaba e-commerce.

Chinese tourists in Australia would have the option to use Alipay mobile payments through Albert point-of-sale devices supplied through Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Commonwealth Bank will also offer Alipay as an embedded payment option within its family of smart tablet POS devices.

Ant Financial’s payment infrastructure, which includes Alipay and AliExpress, supports the Alibaba Group’s e-commerce Websites. AliExpress operates as a platform for Chinese merchants to sell to global consumers.

Approximately 19,000 Chinese tourists visit Australia every week and spend almost $8,000 per person, Douglas Feagin, senior vice president of Ant Financial Services Group and head of Alipay International, said in Oct. 31 press release.

“We want Alipay users to enjoy the kind of convenience they are used to at home,” Feagin added. “We are working with regional and global partners like CBA to make this happen.”

The agreement in Australia helps Ant Financial further its goal of expanding Alipay globally to the point where it can claim more than 2 billion users worldwide in the next decade. The company currently has 450 million Chinese subscribers to Alipay and is seeking to extend that payment option to those users while traveling.

First appeared at PaymentsSource