Alipay expansion gathers speed with move into Southeast Asia
Merger of parent Ant Financial with helloPay seen helping Alibaba transform its annual Singles’ Day online shopping promotion into a fully fledged international event
Chinese online payments giant Alipay is set to expand its operations in Southeast Asia through the merger of parent Ant Financial Services and helloPay, a move that could also advance Alibaba Group’s efforts to build the international coverage of its annual Singles’ Day online shopping promotion.
Ant Financial, an affiliate of e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba, announced that merger on Wednesday, roughly a year after Alibaba took control of helloPay parent Lazada Group with a US$1 billion investment.
All of the operations of helloPay, which was the payments platform of online retail services provider Lazada since November 2014, have been rebranded as Alipay in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
“This merger is another step in Alipay’s resolve to become a truly global brand ... and take on the likes of Visa, PayPal or Apple Pay around the world,” Paul Haswell, a partner at international law firm Pinsent Masons, told the South China Morning Post on Thursday.
“Alipay has made no secret of its ambitions for expansion, and we can expect to see more deals like this.”
The success of Alipay, which has attracted more than 450 million users in mainland China since the service was launched in 2004, is widely attributed to its tight collaboration with Alibaba’s core online shopping platforms, Taobao Marketplace, Tmall.com and Juhuasuan.com. Alibaba is the owner of the Post.