Mastercard continues to expand its cross-border payment solutions with a new connection to Alipay, China’s leading digital open platform under Ant Group.

The move comes 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 per cent 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 that reaches 95 per cent of the world's banked population.

Mastercard Move reaches nearly 10 billion endpoints worldwide, including bank accounts, card, wallet, and cash payout locations. The portfolio combines the power of Mastercard’s existing and future money movement capabilities, including Mastercard Send and Mastercard Cross-Border services. — VNS