Australia's Commonwealth Bank and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma's Alipay are set to collaborate to develop payments solutions.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Commonwealth Bank) and Alipay, the world’s largest mobile and online payment platform, operated by Ant Financial Services Group, have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to deliver payment solutions that will benefit Australian and Chinese consumers and retailers.
Under the terms of the MOU, the two companies will work together to make it easier for Australian consumers to pay for purchases made through Alibaba Group’s e-commerce websites, supported by Ant Financial’s payment infrastructure, including AliExpress, a platform for Chinese merchants to sell to global consumers.
Payment Solution Development
Mobile payments in China have increased exponentially in recent years. Last year, China overtook the United States as the world’s largest market in mobile payments with a transaction volume of $235 billion, and China is expected to process $6.3 trillion in mobile payments by 2020. Approximately 19,000 Chinese tourists visit Australia every week and spend almost $8,000 per person.
Commonwealth Bank and Alipay will also work together on a simple payment solution that allows Chinese tourists and Chinese students to use Alipay in-store payments at Australian retailers. This agreement allows both companies to leverage the strengths of their collective e-commerce capability and Commonwealth Bank’s Albert smart payment tablet, powered by the Pi platform.
