Alipay not looking to disrupt Australia’s payment landscape, yet
(7 March 2019 – Australia) Chinese payments giant Alipay has said that while it aims to be present in the Australian market, it has no plans to take on the major banks.
Alipay’s app will not be rolled out to Australian customers with the fintech instead focussing on retailers and merchants who want to attract Chinese tourists who use the app to pay.
George Lawson, Alipay’s country manager in Australia and New Zealand told a lunch in Sydney “Australia has got a very efficient payments system … and a very well-developed banking capability in market already. The opportunity for Alipay is more in developing rather than developed markets.”
For now at least, Alipay's message is it wants to work with banks, to ensure their merchant customers are able to take payments from Chinese – and soon Indian – tourists and students in Australia.
Merchant customers of CBA and Tyro can already accept Alipay while NAB is conducting a pilot and will launch soon.
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