Alibaba, a popular Chinese e-commerce conglomerate, has signed an agreement with the NAPAS (National Payment Corporation of Vietnam) that will allow Chinese tourists to use their famous online payment platform in Vietnam right after the visit of Jack Ma to Vietnam this November.
According to business technology websites, Chinese travelers can use Alipay platform via NAPAS’ intermediary payment service networks and its bank member thanks for the agreement between the company with Ant Financial, Alibaba’s financial services arm.
This agreement also allow cards issued by NAPAS’ member to purchase on Alibaba’s website such as AliExpress and Taobao.
At the moment, Center Bank of Vietnam only approved intermediary payment service provider licensed for NAPAS to provide electronic payment services in Vietnam. Vietnam’s top leaders bank Vietcombank, Vietinbank and BIDV with more than 40 other banks which run thousand of ATM machines is operated by this corporation.
“The collaboration with Alipay is part of our strategy to expand international cooperation and to explore new payment solutions,” NASPAS chairwoman Nguyen Tu Anh said, as cited by ZDNet.
Official figures showed that more than 3.2 million Chinese tourists visited Vietnam in the first 10 months this year, up 45.6 percent from a year ago and accounting for nearly a third of foreign arrivals.
A 30 percent increase in spending by Chinese tourists would boost Vietnam’s gross domestic product by nearly 1 percentage point as a Bloomberg report last December.
Alipay, which has more than 520 million daily users globally, has been expanding its global presence along with China’s rising outbound travel.
The payment service entered the Australian market late last year under a similar agreement with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
News of the deal with NAPAS comes a week after Alibaba founder Jack Ma visited Hanoi and spoke at a prominent e-payment forum co-hosted by VnExpress and NAPAS.
At a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Ma said he would consider establishing a store for Vietnam on Alibaba’s e-commerce app.
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