Alipay

Chinese regulators intensified scrutiny of Alibaba, with the e-commerce giant’s financial arm Ant Group ordered to separate its rapidly expanding commercial loan business into a separate unit from Alipay, Financial Times reported.

Vodacom Group joined forces with digital payment platform Alipay to create a so-called superapp for South Africa which will offer personalised financial, business and lifestyle services from 2021.

Online remittance company TransferWise signed an deal with Ant Financial’s Alipay to open access to the latter’s mobile wallets in China, significantly expanding its reach into the country.

Ant Financial plans to open its mobile payment platform Alipay to third-party vendors, allowing them to offer a range of services on the app in a bid to expand beyond financial services.

Multi-market African financial services provider Ecobank partnered Ant Financial’s Alipay to provide international remittance between users of the two services. Under the agreement instant transfers will also be available between Ecobank users and Alipay’s partner services.

Alipay parent Ant Financial began consulting financial services companies on a potential IPO, Financial Times (FT) reported, a move which would see the company revisit plans postponed in 2018.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) partnered with Ant Financial and Alibaba to jointly develop a wide range of new financial technology services.