Alipay Partners VTB To Expand Merchant Network In Russia

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) – Alipay, the world’s largest online and mobile payment platform, has teamed up with VTB Group, one of Russia’s leading banks. In a statement Friday, Alipay’s operator, Ant Financial Services Group, said over one million Chinese travellers were expected to benefit from the partnership every year. “VTB Group recently started merchant acquiring for Alipay’s payment service in over 120,000 POS network, making the group Alipay’s biggest partner in Russia,” it said. The service would be launched after a pilot programme in August, it said. Ant Financial said the third to fourth quarter of 2017 would see roll-out to VTB’s entire network of nearly 100,000 merchants. An estimation by VTB24, VTB Group’s retail banking arm, said Alipay would be highly demanded in Moscow, St Petersburg, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Blagoveshchensk and Irkutsk. It said Chinese shoppers could now enjoy convenience and safety during trips to Russia and Russian merchants would be able to use the value-added marketing functions in the system. “We see an increasing number of Chinese tourists,” said Alexey Kirichek VP Director of Merchant Acquiring Department VTB24. "The potential volume of this market is approximately 300 billion rubles per year. The average ticket size of Alipay users is two to three times higher than other payment methods, hence, we expect high demand for the new service from merchants,” he said, adding that it was important to get the support from one of Russia’s largest banks. Alipay was made available for Chinese tourists in Russia from April 2017 and merchants included souvenir shops and department stores in Moscow and St Petersburg, it said. Earlier in July, Alipay announced its partnership with Moscow’s Department of Public Transportation and Chinese tourists, and Chinese tourists will be able to use Alipay to buy bus or metro tickets for travel in Russia, it added. Alipay is the world’s largest online and mobile wallet with over 520 million active users. -- BERNAMA