A new payment solution will allow merchants in the Philippines to accept payments from local users of GCash and Chinese visitors using Alipay through a single connection to the GCash QR Code solution.
The announcement was jointly made by Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc, (Mynt), which operates GCash, the country’s largest mobile wallet, and Ant Financial Services Group (Ant Financial or Ant), which operates Alipay, the world’s largest mobile and online payment platform.
Alipay and GCash will work together to promote the new QR code payment to enable local merchants to service an even bigger pool of consumers with seamless payment experiences. This service will be rolled out over the next few weeks across GCash’s merchant network.
Ant Financial earlier entered into a joint venture with Globe Telecom and the country’s oldest conglomerate Ayala Corporation to boost Mynt’s operations, parent company of GCash mobile wallet service. Under this strategic partnership, Ant Financial will partner with Mynt for merchant acquiring activities for Alipay across the Philippines.
GCash remains the only mobile wallet partner for Ant Financial in the Philippines, serving local users in their everyday mobile payment needs from buy load, movie tickets to microloans and other financial services.
“We have enjoyed a strong and trusting relationship with Mynt since 2017, as we witnessed GCash’s phenomenal growth to becoming a world-class online and offline payment provider well-loved by Filipinos. With the success GCash has demonstrated over the last twelve months, we are pleased to elevate this strategic partnership today by establishing GCash QR code as the common QR code for both local users and visiting Alipay users,” said Douglas Feagin, senior vice president of global business at Ant Financial.
“By jointly establishing this QR code with Alipay, all merchants working with GCash will be able to accept Alipay as a payment option for Chinese travelers in their stores, while also catering to the local user pool that have now grown to love our cashless lifestyle app. We are hopeful that our merchants can benefit from the increased footfall and revenue stream brought by the increasing number of Chinese tourists coming to the country,” said Anthony Thomas, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mynt.
Alipay is now accepted by brick-and-mortar merchants across 41 countries and regions. They connect with travelers via the Alipay’s in-app marketing platform and accept payments in stores and online.
According to a survey named “Outbound Chinese Tourism and Consumption Trends: 2017 Survey” conducted by research firm Nielsen, over 94% of Chinese tourists expect they will utilize mobile payment methods when travelling, bringing their cashless lifestyle overseas. A record-breaking number of Chinese tourists were seen visiting Philippines in the month of February 2018 according to the Philippines Department of Tourism. (Press Release)
