AUB, Alipay+ extend partnership to allow cross-border payments

MANILA, Philippines — Rebisco-led Asia United Bank (AUB) has partnered with Alipay+ of billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group to allow cross-border payments and provide a seamless payment experience.

Wilfredo Rodriguez Jr., head of operations and information technology at AUB, said the listed bank continues to build its digital arsenal over the past few years.

“Over the years, AUB has been building a digital arsenal that include pioneering initiatives and innovations – from end-to-end digital account opening, to enabling clients to make banking easy through their mobile phone and merchants to sustain their businesses even with restricted mobility during the pandemic,” Rodriguez said.

With Alipay+’s global presence through its integration with local merchants worldwide, Rodriguez explained users of HelloMoney would have a wider reach in payment acceptance while ensuring a safe and secure digital transaction.

This provides a seamless payment experience for users when they travel overseas for leisure and business.

“This makes AUB the first Philippine bank with an e-wallet that can be used overseas,” the bank said.

Via the partnership, HelloMoney users can pay at local merchants accepting Alipay+ for shopping, dining, convenience stores, transportation, and other travel-related activities, initially in South Korea and Japan.

Over a million HelloMoney users would also be able to take advantage of more competitive exchange rates compared to prevailing market rates.

Introduced by Ant Group, Alipay+ is a suite of global cross-border digital payments and marketing solutions designed to enable businesses to process a wide range of mobile payment methods and better serve regional and global consumers through simple technical adaption.

Jia Hang, general manager of Alipay+ Global Partnerships at Ant Group, said AUB has been a long-term partner to Ant Group.

“We are excited to extend the partnership further to enable its e-wallet’s cross-border operations through Alipay+. Despite it being a relatively young e-wallet, HelloMoney has garnered strong growth and adoption momentum among users. Through this partnership, users of HelloMoney can rely on the e-wallet when they travel overseas, too, without the hassle of carrying cash or changing currencies,” he said.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, AUB launched HelloMoney so users can open an account without going to a physical branch and perform bank-to-bank fund transfers, buy prepaid load, remit money through PeraPadala, pay via QR code, settle bills, withdraw via ATM, and shop using the HelloMoney’s very own virtual Mastercard.

The launch was immediately followed by the release of Hello Pag-IBIG, the companion mobile app to the Pag-IBIG Loyalty Card Plus where cardholders can manage their account and perform banking transactions. In 2021, AUB introduced the HelloMoney Mastercard for online shopping.

As of October, the number of HelloMoney transactions jumped 45 percent to 19 million, while the value surged by 49 percent to P63 billion.