CIMB-Alipay mobile wallet provides Chinese tourists a more seamless payment experience in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur: CIMB Group (“CIMB”) and Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”), the parent company of Alipay, the world’s largest online and mobile payment platform, today announced a collaboration to enable the Alipay mobile wallet in Malaysia as an alternative cashless payment for Chinese tourists. CIMB will act as the settlement and merchant acquirer bank to facilitate Alipay payments in Malaysia, to enable Chinese visitors to pay for their transactions in Renminbi without concern about exchange rates, through a simple barcode-scanning method that they are used to in China.
Douglas Feagin, Senior Vice President of Ant Financial said, “We are pleased to work with a leading financial institution in Malaysia and ASEAN such as CIMB to bring the convenience of the Alipay service to our users wherever and whenever they need them. We see CIMB, with its extensive merchant network, as the perfect collaboration partner to provide our payment solutions to Chinese travellers in this region.”
Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz, Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group said, “The entry of Alipay marks a notable milestone in the growth of mobile wallet payment services in Malaysia. We are excited to work with Alipay to provide Chinese tourists a convenient and secure payment experience while in Malaysia and we target to go live with our merchants by May 2017, having received Bank Negara approval just recently. CIMB’s leading edge expertise in transaction banking is not only supporting Malaysia’s drive for a safe and secure cashless society, but also providing our customers with a seamless banking experience within ASEAN.”
Earlier today, an exchange of Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) took place between CIMB and Ant Financial to officiate the collaboration. Ant Financial was represented by Douglas Feagin while CIMB Group was represented by Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz. Witnessing the MOU exchange were Dato' Sri Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia; Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group; Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak, Chairman, CIMB Group and Lucy Peng, Chairman, Ant Financial.
Thus far, CIMB is collaborating with Genting Malaysia Berhad, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, YTL Corporation Berhad and Maxincome Resources Sdn Bhd (who operates the FamilyMart convenience store chain) to be the pioneer merchants to accept Alipay mobile wallet payments in Malaysia. Alipay merchants in Malaysia will have the opportunity to deepen their wallet share from Chinese travellers, by providing an alternative payment channel to current cash or dual-currency credit card facilities.
Genting Malaysia Berhad’s leading integrated resort, Resorts World Genting will be the first merchant working with CIMB to incorporate Alipay as an alternative payment channel for its customers. The award winning resort will have the world's first Twentieth Century Fox Theme Park, the brand new SkyAvenue mall’s food and beverage and retail outlets, and also hotels under its RM10.4 billion Genting Integrated Tourism Plan.
Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd will enable tourists from China to enjoy the convenience of paying for Digi mobile and data plans through the Alipay mobile wallet, enabling them to stay connected while they are in Malaysia. The Alipay mobile wallet provides customers payment convenience in line with Digi’s strategy to bring a seamless digital experience to its customers.
YTL Corporation Berhad is looking into welcoming acceptance of Alipay mobile wallet with CIMB, especially for YTL Hotels & Properties, the hospitality arm of YTL Corporation Berhad., YTL Hotels & Properties owns and manages a prestigious collection of award-winning resorts, hotels, boutique experiences and spa villages; as well as Hutong @ Lot 10, and Starhill Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, where many Chinese tourists frequent whenever they visit Malaysia.
FamilyMart will enable Alipay acceptance in three of its current outlets, located in Wisma Lim Foo Yong, Mid Valley, and KLIA 2, in its continuous efforts to bring more convenience to its shoppers. FamilyMart, which originates from Japan, is the first convenience store chain in Malaysia to bring mobile payment and Alipay to Chinese tourists. The chain targets to open 300 stores in five years.
PhotoCaption:
(L-R): Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz, Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group; Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak, Chairman, CIMB Group; Dato' Sri Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia; Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group; Lucy Peng, Chairman, Ant Financial Services Group and Douglas Feagin, Senior Vice President, Ant Financial Services Group at the exchange of Memorandum of Understanding between CIMB Bank and Ant Financial Services Group.
(L-R): Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz, Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group; Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak, Chairman, CIMB Group; Dato' Sri Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia; Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group; Lucy Peng, Chairman, Ant Financial Services Group and Douglas Feagin, Senior Vice President, Ant Financial Services Group at the exchange of Memorandum of Understanding between CIMB Bank and Ant Financial Services Group.
About CIMB Group
CIMB Group is Malaysia’s second largest financial services provider and one of ASEAN’s leading universal banking groups. It offers consumer banking, investment banking, Islamic banking, asset management and insurance products and services. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, the Group is now present in nine out of 10 ASEAN nations (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos). Beyond ASEAN, the Group has market presence in China, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, Korea, the US and UK.
CIMB Group has the most extensive retail branch network in ASEAN of over 900 branches as at 31 December 2016. CIMB Group’s investment banking arm is also one of the largest Asia Pacific-based investment banks, offering amongst the most comprehensive research coverage of more than 1,000 stocks in the region.
CIMB Group operates its business through three main brand entities, CIMB Bank, CIMB Investment Bank and CIMB Islamic. CIMB Group is also the 92.5% shareholder of Bank CIMB Niaga in Indonesia, and 93.7% shareholder of CIMB Thai in Thailand.
CIMB Group is listed on Bursa Malaysia via CIMB Group Holdings Berhad. It had a market capitalisation of approximately RM40.0 billion as at 31 December 2016. The Group has around 39,000 employees located in 16 countries.
About Alipay
Launched in 2004, Alipay currently has over 450 million active users. Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, make appointments with doctors, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Over 2,000,000 brick-and-mortar merchants now accept Alipay across China. As of November 2016, Alipay is supported in 70 overseas markets, with in-store payments covering more than 100,000 retail stores, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 24 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 40 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay supports the settlement of 18 currencies.
