Mobile Payments Go Global

hinese mobile payment service providersare now going abroad. Chinese mobile pay-ment platforms like Alibaba’s Alipay havestarted to offer services in the United States,Japan, South Korea, Australia and manyEuropean countries. According to data fromAlibaba, it has already entered into coopera-tion with more than 200 fi nancial institutions,including Visa, MasterCard, JBC, Citibank,Standard Chartered, Barclays and DeutscheBank. Alipay now supports settlement in 18foreign currencies outside China.

The swift expansion of Chinese mobilepayment platforms outside the country isa further development of these platformsafter they’ve gained success in the Chinesemarket. Today, mobile payment has alreadybecome an inseparable part of Chinesepeople’s daily life. By scanning QR codes,they can pay for goods and services such asutilities. Mobile payment spares them thetrouble of carrying cash or queuing at banksto withdraw money. Statistics from the ChinaInternet Network Information Center revealthat by 2016, 469.2 million netizens had ad-opted mobile payment.

The expansion of China’s mobile pay-ment platforms in international marketsimplies close connection between China andthe international Internet ecosystem. Mobilepayment falls into the category of Internetfi nance, but it needs support from technolo-gies like big data and cloud computing. Thesmooth connection between China andthe rest of the world makes it possible forChinese mobile payment providers to enterinternational markets.

Chinese citizens’ overseas shoppingsprees, which have become a focus ofattention, drive Chinese mobile paymentplatforms to the rest of the world. In 2016,ranking first globally, Chinese touristsspent a total of $261 billion outside China,accounting for 20.9 percent of the world’stotal travel consumption. In order to at-tract more Chinese consumers, retailersaround the world are adopting Chinesemobile payment services like Alipay.Chinese mobile payment platforms’expansion overseas is market-based be-havior, so competition from Apple Pay andSamsung Pay is inevitable. However, thisprocess of competition will witness improve-ment and progress of the internationalmobile payment industry.

According to a report issued by con-sultancy KPMG, 66 percent of intervieweesaround the world expressed willingness touse mobile payment. In China, the rate hit 84percent, which is expected to rise further asmore people adopt this payment method.Probably someday soon, the “cashlessera”—a major revolution in society—willbecome reality thanks to mobile payment,consigning banknotes and coins to muse-ums.

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