European digital money transfer service Azimo announced today that it has partnered with China’s largest mobile payment app Alipay to deliver instant Payments for its customers.
This collaboration enables Azimo’s users to send the Chinese Yuan from more than 25 countries across Europe to users of Alipay, which serves more than 1.2 billion people worldwide.
Promising instant money transfers, Azimo users simply need the recipient’s name and Alipay ID to initiate a money transfer. The money will then be sent to the bank account linked to the recipient’s Alipay profile. Additionally, money can be sent using Alipay’s local Digital Wallet partners.
Alipay, which is operated by Alibaba’s financial services arm Ant Financial, is a separate app that allows customers to pay for their purchases in-store through opening the Alipay app and then scanning a QR code provided by the retailer.
The partnership takes advantage of a real-time clearing and settlement infrastructure to enable instant transfers to Chinese bank accounts, similar to the U.K.’s Faster Payments.
London-headquartered Azimo expects the deal to help accelerate its customer base and increase transaction volume. With instant or one-hour transfers available to over 80 countries, Azimo is making that experience a reality for its now 1 million-plus users.
China is one of the top remittance destinations globally, says the World Bank, with more than $50 billion expected to be sent back home this year by Chinese expats and migrants living abroad.
“In 2020, sending money abroad should be as easy as sending someone a photo. Partnering with Alipay has allowed us to offer our customers an instant, seamless user experience when they send money to China,” said Richard Ambrose, Azimo’s CEO.
Alipay, China’s biggest payments service, is owned and operated by Ant Financial Services Group. The company holds nearly 70 percent of China’s third-party mobile payment market share.
The company controlled by billionaire and Alibaba co-founder, Jack Ma has recently partnered with large European institutions in order to make it easier for its more than 1.2 billion active users to continue using Alipay widely across Europe. Hence, they can pay for their purchases in yuan using their Alipay accounts.
