Mastercard & Alipay team to fuel instant and secure remittances

By Gloria Mathias

Mastercard continues to expand its cross-border payment solutions, forging a new alliance with Alipay, China’s digital open platform under Ant Group. The move takes place as consumers increasingly look for ways to send money across the globe quickly and securely.

Insights from Mastercard’s Borderless Payments Report reveal that 68% of consumers would make more online cross-border payments if they were faster. In addition, they increasingly favour digital versus in-person cross-border payments, motivated by a desire for quick and secure capabilities to send money along with built-in confirmation that funds were received.

“Mastercard’s connection to Alipay, a super-app serving over 1 billion users in China, is an important addition to its international payments offering, enabling its bank, FinTech, and corporate customers globally to offer their customers a connection to this popular e-wallet in near real-time,” said Alan Marquard, Head of Transfer Solutions at Mastercard. “Disbursements and remittances are a key area of growth for Mastercard, and the company continues to develop its solutions across geographies, always with the objectives to make payments faster, safer, and more convenient and to foster financial inclusion.”

Using Mastercard’s portfolio of international money transfer solutions, Mastercard Move, participating financial institutions can offer their customers international payments to over 180 markets, including a global payout network of over 150 currencies and 3.5 billion account holders.

Dennis Chang, Division President, Greater China, Mastercard, said, “China is already one of the largest recipient countries worldwide for international remittances1. As global economic activities continue to recover, demand for cross-border payments will only increase. With this new connection, Mastercard is pleased to expand its partnership with Alipay to enable people around the world to easily make international fund transfers to China in near real-time, simplifying the transaction for senders as well as receivers.”

The alliance formed by Alipay accelerates Mastercard’s fast-growing cross-border payment offering, addressing the demand for transparent, secure, and efficient money movement.