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Ant Group’s Alipay updates app’s international interface to support Visa, Mastercard, other major credit cards ahead of 2023 Asian Games
- The updated Alipay app boosts support for overseas travellers’ credit card purchases made via Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club, Discover and JCB
- Holders of those popular credit cards are encouraged to register and link their card information with Alipay, which facilitates local payments
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Tracy Quin Hangzhou, China
Alipay, the digital payment service run by financial technology giant Ant Group, has updated its app’s international interface to support overseas travellers to China, including facilitating credit card purchases made via Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club, Discover and JCB.
The update was made ahead of the 2023 Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, from September 23 to October 8, according to Ant’s announcement on Thursday at this year’s edition of its Alipay Partner Conference.
Holders of those popular credit cards are encouraged to register and link their card information with Alipay so that they can make payments to tens of millions of merchants across China via its app, which is a ubiquitous digital settlement platform nationwide along with Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay.
Ant, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, initially announced in June its plan for Alipay to support overseas travellers who use those major credit cards issued by foreign financial services providers. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
“We will continue to optimise our products and services to better serve international visitors to China by enhancing their travel experience with convenient mobile payment services,” Jin Yaoyao, Alipay’s product lead in charge of its app’s international version, said in a statement on Thursday. “We also encourage more merchants and service providers operating digitally on the Alipay platform to enhance their services for international travellers.”
Tracy Qu is a Shanghai based technology reporter at the Post. She graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a master’s degree in journalism.
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