Alipay+ Connects 2 Million Merchants in Japan as Global Tourists Travel to the Country for Cherry Blossom Season

Tokyo, March 27 – As merchants in Japan gear up to receive cherry blossom tourists across from around the world, Ant International announced that its cross-border mobile payment solution Alipay+ has connected two million merchants across the country, enabling businesses, big or small, to better serve global visitors through a seamless payment experience with their home country e-wallets.

There are 16 e-wallets and bank apps accepted in Japan via Alipay+, a suite of cross-border digital payment and digitalization technology solutions, namely Alipay (Chinese mainland), AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR China), MPay (Macao SAR China), South Korea’s Kakao Pay, Naver Pay and Toss, Singapore’s OCBC Digital, Changi Pay and EZ-Link, Malaysia’s Touch ‘n Go eWallet and MyPB by Public Bank Berhad, the Philippines’ GCash and HelloMoney, TrueMoney (Thailand), Hipay (Mongolia), and Tinaba (Italy).

Powered by Alipay+, transaction volume made by e-wallets and bank apps in Japan jumped over 200% in the first three weeks of March, compared with the same period in 2023. Transaction value is estimated to account for about 10% of total spending among users during their stay in the country, Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International, said during a press conference in Tokyo.

Among all, Alipay, AlipayHK, Kakao Pay, Touch ‘n Go eWallet, GCash and TrueMoney are among the most popular e-wallets used by travelers to Japan, while MPay, Naver Pay and Toss are seeing rapid growth in transactions.

Mr. Feagin said, “We are grateful to our over 40 local acquiring partners in Japan, including both big institutions as well as small ones that only have several employees, for their tremendous support to promote a seamless, transparent and efficient experience together for local businesses and international travelers.

“By working with these partners, Alipay+ provides global tourists with a seamless digital payment experience that is the same as in their own markets. Without any extra efforts, tourists can make purchases by simply scanning the QR code at merchants of all size, without worrying about foreign currency exchange or any language barriers.”

In Asakusa, a vibrant neighborhood and popular tourist destination with small souvenir shops and snack stalls, an increasing number of merchants are leveraging the simplicity of QR code to do businesses. The monthly cross-border mobile transaction volume is more than 5 times higher on average.

At Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, a flagship department store chain in Japan, transaction volume made by Alipay+ partner e-wallets and bank apps rose over 10 times in the first two months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

Mr. Akito Kimura, Manager of Inbound Business Division for Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, said, “Starting with connecting Alipay to make Chinese customers more at home, we are pleased to expand our partnership with Ant International by integrating with Alipay+. This will allow us to accommodate the preferred payment methods of our international customers through simple integration. We look forward to working together to drive more innovation, ensuring all customers can enjoy a memorable and peace-of-mind shopping experience at our stores.”

Ms. Venetia Lee, CEO of AlipayHK, said, “Japan is the first foreign destination of AlipayHK as it is one of the most favorite travel destinations for the Hong Kong residents. Powered by Alipay+, Hong Kong people can now use AlipayHK to make purchases at local stores and use car-hailing in Japan, which are settled in Hong Kong dollars with competitive exchange rates in the market. With the increasing acceptance of Alipay+ among local merchants in Japan, the daily transaction values and volumes of AlipayHK in the country in the first quarter have surged 3.5 times and 5 times over the previous quarter. I am confident that the usage of AlipayHK will continue to grow in Japan on the back of the strong adoption of Alipay+ services among the Japanese merchants.”

Mr. Ren-Ren Reyes, president and CEO of GXI (G-Xchange, Inc.), the mobile wallet operator of GCash said, "Our long-standing partnership with Alipay+ has allowed us to be an indispensable companion for Filipino travelers in now 47 countries and territories around the world. We are glad to continue strengthening our collaboration with Alipay+ to ensure every Filipino has a seamless and secure cashless payment option when they travel abroad."

Mr. Won-Keun Shin, the CEO of Kakao Pay, a major acquirer in South Korea, said, “We are glad that users can easily and conveniently pay with Kakao Pay at 2 million large and small merchants in Japan, one of the most visited countries by Korean tourists. Through discussions with Alipay+ as well as several e-wallet partners representing each country, we will accelerate global expansion and provide more benefits.”

Mr. John Sun, Chairman and CEO of Macau Pass, stated, “As the leading mobile payment e-wallet in Macao, MPay, together with Alipay+ which has launched a suite of innovative digital cross-border solutions, strives to create a smart e-wallet that facilitates Macao residents to travel globally, this could also solve the issues they encounter with payment while travelling overseas, thus improve travelers' payment and shopping experience. MPay will continue to expand in e-payments, lifestyle services, and marketing technology services to develop more open and diversified intelligent payment business scenarios.”

Mr. Alan Ni, Chief Executive Officer of TNG Digital Sdn. Bhd., the operator of TNG eWallet, said, “As Malaysia's top eWallet provider, we're committed to serving users locally and expanding globally. Our partnership with Alipay+ has seen transactions surge sixfold this year, specifically in Japan, a true testament to our dedication to innovative payment solutions. With over half of Malaysia entrusting TNG eWallet as their preferred digital payment and financial services provider, we aim to be the ultimate travel companion, ensuring easy and safe transactions wherever our users go.”

Ms. Monsinee Nakapanant, Co-President of Ascend Money, the operator of TrueMoney said, “Japan ranks as one of the most popular destinations with approximately 1 million Thai travelers each year. We are pleased to work with Alipay+ to create more inclusive cross- border payments and enable Thais to enjoy safe, real-time, and cost-effective payments with their accustomed home wallet TrueMoney. Enabling the travelers to connect with Japanese merchants of all sizes will also expand their experiences of local culture and people that would make their trip more memorable.”

Introduced by Ant International in 2020, Alipay+ now connects over 88 million merchants in 57 countries and regions to 1.5 billion consumer accounts on over 25 e-wallets and bank apps, allowing consumers to travel and pay hassle-free globally, and merchants to build out cross-border consumer engagement and digital marketing.

The service builds on Alipay+’s extensive regional partnerships, including those with national QR schemes including Singapore’s SGQR, Malaysia’s PayNet, South Korea’s ZeroPay, Sri Lanka's LankaPay and Cambodia's KHQR.

13 APAC Mobile Wallet and Digital Bank Leaders Sign up for New MSME Initiative to Accelerate Inclusion and Sustainability Efforts

Tokyo, Japan, 26 March 2024 – Programme Sirius (Sustainability Innovation for Regenerative & Inclusive Purpose), supported by 13 Asia-Pacific fintech leaders at its inaugural launch, was unveiled today to empower Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in their transition towards sustainability, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Programme Sirius is an industry-led knowledge initiative that aims to support MSMEs operating on digital platforms in their journey towards sustainability. It will foster open industry dialogues where like-minded industry partners can exchange ideas on sustainability innovations and share best practices to support MSMEs on their sustainability journey, helping their transition into a low-carbon economy, advancing their accessibility to sustainability financing, and uplifting MSMEs with new growth opportunities.

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will collaborate with Ant International to develop and promote a set of Digital Sustainability Impact Management Toolkits in the next two years. These toolkits aim to empower MSMEs to adopt environmentally and socially friendly practices to improve MSMEs’ access to sustainable finance through digitalization while driving the entire economy towards a low-carbon development path.

To support MSMEs in commencing their sustainability journeys, Gprnt, an initiative by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, will collaborate with Ant International to provide a technology-enabled reporting solution for MSMEs to embark on simplified sustainability disclosures against basic Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) metrics. Gprnt will further augment Programme Sirius by sharing how MSMEs can better harness data and technology to gain access to sustainable business, finance, and supply chain opportunities.

 

At the launch, 13 industry partners from 11 economies have committed to be part of Programme Sirius: AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), ANEXT Bank (Singapore), Bigpay (Malaysia), bKash (Bangladesh), DANA (Indonesia), GCash (the Philippines), Hipay (Mongolia), Kakao Pay (Republic of Korea), MPay (Macao SAR, China), TNG Digital (Malaysia), TossPay (Republic of Korea), TrueMoney (Thailand) and Zalopay (Vietnam).

Corporates and businesses today face increasing reporting requirements from regulators, financial institutions, and supply chain partners to disclose and track their sustainability performances. Small Medium Sized Enterprises (“SMEs”) represent 90% of all businesses and 50% of employment worldwide¹, yet their limited size means they lack the capability and data collection mechanism for sustainability related reporting. MSMEs, which form key components of larger firms’ supply chains, face even greater challenges from the complexities of the reporting landscape, insufficient resources, and know-how to generate basic sustainability reports, and high cost of employing technological solutions and consulting services to develop effective sustainability reporting solutions.

With multinational companies aiming to curtail their carbon footprint and extending these expectations to their suppliers, local merchants could gain competitive edge by embracing sustainability. To facilitate MSMEs, including those operating in digital channels, to transition towards sustainability, there is a great urgency to call for industry collaborative efforts and innovations to help in addressing these key areas of challenges.

 

“We always talk about financial and digital inclusion, but sustainability inclusion for MSMEs is becoming one of the most pressing challenges,” said Leiming Chen, Chief Sustainability Officer, Ant International. “As these merchants play an increasingly important role in the global and local economies, there is a need to provide them with the right mindset, knowledge, and resources to take climate action. Given the complexities of the task, ranging from taxonomy and governance framework to cost and education, it requires collective effort across public and private sectors, industries, and markets to drive this change. With our experience in innovation-led sustainability and MSME programs, Ant International is proud to join partners like the Gprnt and IFC, and other industry partners of the Programme Sirius like GCash to unlock opportunities for MSMEs as they transform to become more sustainable.”

 

“MSMEs are the backbone of any growing economy. With this, GCash has become their bridge to digital by providing essential tools – transforming the way they do business. We remain committed to helping Filipino MSMEs achieve progress through democratized financial services, especially with easy access to credit,” commented Martha Sazon, President and Chief Executive Officer of GCash.

 

“MSMEs are the backbone of the Asia-Pacific economy, accounting for more than 97 percent of its businesses and employing over half its workforce. Meanwhile, our region accounts for three-fifths of global emissions from power generation and includes many countries vulnerable to climate change,” said Christina Ongoma, Upstream and Advisory Manager, Financial Institutions Group, East Asia and the Pacific, IFC. “The sustainable growth of MSMEs is of great importance, as it not only creates jobs and drives economic growth, but also paves the way for a better future for all.”

 

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore, said: “The widespread adoption of digital wallets and payment solutions makes them a key enabler for helping smaller businesses commence their sustainability journeys. Industry initiatives like Programme Sirius are important for the public and private sector to coordinate the tools, frameworks and technologies for smaller businesses to build their sustainability competencies as they transition into the green economy. The MAS is pleased to support Programme Sirius by leveraging its work on Project Savannah, which articulates a common starting point for MSMEs to report basic ESG information; and through the involvement of the newly established Gprnt platform, which harnesses technology and automation to simplify how MSMEs report such information. We look forward to Programme Sirius bringing together global financial institutions and payment providers, to collectively power more inclusive and sustainable growth for MSMEs around the world.”