(8 May 2017 – Global) Ant Financial has announced a partnership with payment processor firm First Data that will allow its AliPay service to be used at point-of-sale with more than four million retail partners in the US.
The deal is the first of its kind for Alipay in the US. The two companies previously partnered for a rollout with high-end retailers last year.
Although the majority of Alipay’s 450 million customers are based in China, the Alibaba subsidiary is quickly expanding into other regions.
The deal follows similar partnerships and investment the fintech has made across South Korea, India, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand in an effort to claim early mover advantage in markets where digital payments and banking are just starting out.
The announcement follows Ant Financial’s US$1.2 billion bid to acquire cross-border transfer service MoneyGram in the US.