CIMB ties up with Alipay to offer cashless payments to Chinese travellers here
The Edge Markets, March 22, 2017
By Neily Syafiqah Eusoff
KUALA LUMPUR (March 22): CIMB Bank Bhd has teamed up with China's Ant Financial Services Group to enable the use of Alipay mobile wallet in Malaysia as an alternative cashless payment for Chinese tourists.
Ant Financial is the parent of Alipay — the world’s largest online and mobile payment platform — and is an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
In a joint statement today, CIMB Bank said it will act as the settlement and merchant acquirer bank to facilitate Alipay payments in Malaysia, to enable Chinese visitors to pay for their transactions in renminbi through a simple barcode-scanning method that they are used to in China.
"We see CIMB Bank, with its extensive merchant network, as the perfect collaboration partner to provide our payment solutions to Chinese travellers in this region," Ant Financial senior vice-president Douglas Feagin said.
CIMB Group Holdings Bhd group chief executive Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said it targets the Alipay mobile wallet service to go live with the bank's merchants by May this year, having received Bank Negara Malaysia's approval just recently.
To date, CIMB is collaborating with Genting Malaysia Bhd, DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, YTL Corp Bhd and Maxincome Resources Sdn Bhd, who operates the FamilyMart convenience store chain here, to be the pioneer merchants to accept Alipay mobile wallet payments in Malaysia.
Tan Sri (Dr) Francis Yeoh, Managing Director of YTL Corp commented on the collaboration saying, "We are excited to work with CIMB and Jack Ma's Alipay. YTL is always willing to explore new positive fronts in application of service for efficiency, where all our millions of customers can benefit. We are right smack in the midst of a digital revolution. It is good to have Jack Ma as the Malaysian Government's official Advisor in the Digital Economy."
Back