Alipay+ Adds Hang Seng Bank as Cross-Border Payments Demand Grows in Asia | LeapRate
Ant International’s Alipay+ said last week that it has added Hang Seng Bank as its first banking partner in Hong Kong, extending a network that already spans more than 50 digital wallets and financial institutions.
The unified wallet gateway is said to be accepted in over 220 markets globally and lets banks offer cross-border payment services through a single integration.
Hang Seng Mobile App users can now make QR code payments in mainland China and overseas at more than 100 million merchants across over 55 countries and regions.
Alipay+ said outbound cross-border payment demand from Asia Pacific is projected to grow faster than the global average. It cited estimates that consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-business outbound volume from the region could reach 3.7 trillion by 2032, almost doubling from 2024.
The platform also partners with more than 10 national QR systems, including Malaysia’s DuitNow, Thailand’s PromptPay and Uzbekistan’s HUMO, allowing banks to scale mobile payment use without striking individual merchant agreements in target markets.
Banks already connected to the network include Public Bank Berhad in Malaysia, Bank of the Philippine Islands and Asia United Bank in the Philippines, OCBC in Singapore, Kasikorn Bank and Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand, and Vietcombank in Vietnam.
Beyond Alipay+, Ant International works with banks through other services, including its Falcon TST AI FX model, which it said makes long-term foreign exchange forecasts with up to 93% accuracy and is used by Citi and Barclays.
Its blockchain platform Whale, which enables round-the-clock cross-border liquidity transfer, is being integrated by Standard Chartered and HSBC.
