Ant International’s Alipay+ Adds New Bank Partners Amid Cross-border Mobile Payment Boom in Asia Pac

Alipay+, Ant International's unified wallet gateway, is adding more bank partners to its network of over 50 leading digital wallets and financial institutions. Its global bank partners range from incumbent banks to fully digital banks.

The latest banking partner to join Alipay+ is Hang Seng Bank, Alipay+’s first banking partner in Hong Kong. Hang Seng Mobile App users can now make payments via QR code scan in the Chinese Mainland and overseas by simply using the Hang Seng Mobile App at over 100 million merchants across more than 55 countries/regions.

Accelerating revenue growth through cross-border mobile payments

Demand for outbound cross-border payments from Asia Pacific is projected to increase faster than the global average. Alongside growing adoption of digital wallets, consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and consumer-to-business (C2B) outbound cross-border payment volume from Asia Pacific could reach 3.7 trillion by 2032, almost doubling from 2024. This growth represents opportunities for banks, which can offer users increased ease of transactions through a familiar interface.

Accepted in over 220 markets globally, Alipay+ enables banks to offer cross-border payment services for their users in new markets with one single integration. Alipay+ also partners with over 10 national QR systems, from Malaysia’s DuitNow and Thailand’s PromptPay to Uzbekistan's HUMO. This established network enables banks to scale their usage scenarios for mobile payments efficiently, eschewing the need to establish individual agreements between banks and merchants in target markets.

Improved customer engagement and retention

Bank partners can also expand app functionality for users through the Alipay+ Super App Platform, by integrating partner mini-programmes and plug-in solutions. This allows streamlined onboarding of services such as travel bookings and social features, giving users more opportunities to engage with their banks through the app interface.

The focus on customer experience is critical for banks, especially as macroeconomic conditions remain uncertain. Data from McKinsey & Company indicates that improving customer experiences enables higher returns, faster growth and lower costs for banks. Together, these factors lead to a significant increase in total shareholder return for customer experience leaders, compared with banks that demonstrate lower customer experience scores.

Banks in the following markets have already connected their users to the Alipay+ network, enabling convenient cross-border payment experiences for their users through their mobile apps:

• Malaysia – Public Bank Berhad
• Philippines – Bank of the Philippine Islands and Asia United Bank
• Singapore – OCBC
• Thailand – Kasikorn Bank and Siam Commercial Bank
• Vietnam – Vietcombank

Besides Alipay+, Ant International also works with banks through other platform-based services, such as its Falcon TST AI FX model. The industry-first model makes long term FX forecasts with up to 93% accuracy, and is already in use by banks globally including Citi and Barclays. Ant International's AI-powered blockchain platform Whale enables near-instant, 24/7 cross-border liquidity transfer. Partners including Standard Chartered and HSBC are already collaborating with Ant International to integrate the solution with their existing infrastructure.

About Ant International

Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider. Through collaboration across the private and public sectors, our unified techfin platform supports financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth through a comprehensive range of cutting-edge digital payment and financial services solutions.