Mastercard reached a deal with mobile payment giant Alipay to enable consumers around the world to make international transfers to China, expanding an existing partnership with Ant Group.

In a statement, Mastercard head of transfer solutions Alan Marquard noted the connection to Alipay is an important addition to its international remittances offering, enabling its global bank, fintech and corporate customers to offer a connection to this popular e-wallet in near real-time.

Alipay is a super-app serving more than 1 billion users in China.

Dennis Chang, division president for greater China at Mastercard, said the nation is already one of the largest recipient countries worldwide for international remittances.

“As global economic activities continue to recover, demand for cross-border payments will only increase.”

Alipay and rival WeChat Pay are the leading digital payment platforms in China, accounting for 90 per cent of online payments in 2023, data from Statista showed.