Ant Group Among First to Connect to Cross-Border Unified Gateway, Has Integrated 31 Overseas E-Wallets

On September 17, under the guidance of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the China Payment and Clearing Association, Alipay, owned by Ant Group, and Ant International became among the first batch of institutions to participate in the pilot program for the cross-border QR code unified gateway service.

On September 16, Lu Lei, a member of the Communist Party of China Committee and Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), stated while attending the 14th China Payment and Clearing Forum that following the interconnection between the mainland and Hong Kong's fast payment systems in June this year, the cross-border QR code unified gateway was launched for trial operation at the end of July. The unified gateway adheres to the principles of being public, inclusive, and beneficial for all, supporting eligible market institutions to connect and conduct cross-border QR code payment business.

Guided by the national initiative to facilitate inbound payments, Ant Group, through its Alipay platform, already supports international bank cards from 7 major brands and 31 e-wallets from 12 countries and regions for use within China. Recent additions to the supported wallets primarily come from Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Thailand, and others.

Currently, Ant Group is the enterprise with the most extensive coverage of overseas card schemes and e-wallets, the richest range of scenarios, and the largest business scale in the initiative to facilitate inbound payments.

Han Xinyi, CEO of Ant Group, stated that Ant Group was fortunate to participate in the development and construction process of the unified gateway. At the end of July, Ant Group's "using overseas wallets within China" (外包内用) business successfully launched for trial operation alongside the unified gateway. The company will continue to increase investment in the future and actively contribute to the facilitation of inbound payments.