China's Alipay gains Australian support through CommBank

An international payment standard is on its way to being used in Australia, as the Commonwealth Bank adds Alipay to its systems.

The Commonwealth Bank already has a fairly established foothold in Australian retail with its Albert platform, a technology that makes it easy to pay with a made-for-purpose tablet supporting tap and go payments from cards, phones, and wearables, and it’s about to support something else: Alipay.

China’s largest online payment platform, Alipay serves just over half a billion users, and was founded by the Alibaba Group. The system greatly supports Chinese-issued cards and devices, and with CommBank adding it to its supported services, potentially opens up support for the 94,000 Albert devices being used in stores across the country.

“This is a game changer and we are thrilled to be the first major bank to provide Alipay as a payment option for customers, through our market leading and innovative apps ecosystem, Albert App Bank,” said CBA Executive General Manager of Business Customer Solutions, Clive Van Horen.

Albert’s adoption of Alipay works through the ePay app on the Albert tablet, with businesses able to use location-based campaigns to target users of the Alipay wallet before they land in Australia.

“Australian businesses have been calling out for their banks to partner with Alipay to improve their exposure to the rapidly expanding Chinese visitor market,” said Alipay Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand, George Lawson.

“We are thrilled to partner with CBA to help drive Alipay acceptance in the Australian market so that Chinese customers can use a payment method that’s familiar to them,” he said.

“Banks are pivotal to Alipay’s expansion in Australia, and the fact that CBA has a growing market share in business banking customers, means we can now switch on our technology for thousands of merchants simultaneously through their existing Albert devices. With the festive season fast approaching, businesses that use Alipay will be best placed to attract additional sales in what is a busy travel period for Chinese consumers.”

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