Ant Group's Alipay+ To Launch Three New Mobile Wallets In Philippines Amid Tourism Boom

Ant Group, an affiliate company of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd - ADR's BABA, announced the addition of four mobile wallets now accepted in the Philippines. The wallets are part of its global cross-border digital payments and marketing solution, Alipay+.

The wallets include: AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR), Kakao Pay (South Korea), Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia) and Alipay (Chinese mainland), which has been accepted by Filipino merchants since 2017. Currently, Alipay+ is accepted by merchants in Manila and Cebu.

With the usage of digital assets being so widespread, it is likely to be a topic of discussion at the upcoming Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets conference.

The move came amid a re-opening of travelers to the Philippines. Using these wallets, travelers can enjoy a cashless experience by using home mobile wallets to make payments.

Cherry Huang, Alipay+’s offline merchant services general manager, indicated the company planned to focus more on partnerships and bring more merchants on board across the country, mainly small businesses.

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In 2020, Ant Group launched Alipay+ to expand payment methods for businesses. In early 2023, coverage of the service was extended to Malaysia wherein all 7-Eleven stores were enabled to accept Alipay+ and other mobile wallets.

Separately, Ant Group CEO Eric Jing Xiandong announced on Thursday support for the Chinese sovereign digital currency e-CNY as it could be valuable for industrial internet use. For some time China has been promoting the use of its sovereign digital currency, pushing Alipay and WeChat to unify payment QR codes.

Meet and engage with transformative Digital Asset and Crypto business leaders and investors at Benzinga's exclusive event, Future of Digital Assets. Tickets are flying: Get yours!

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