Mastercard’s recent collaboration with Alipay to facilitate swift and secure global money transfers marks a significant development in response to growing consumer demand for faster online cross-border payments.
In a prepared statement, Alan, Marquard, Head of Transfer Solutions at Mastercard, highlighted the significance of this partnership. By connecting with Alipay—a super app that reaches over a billion users in China—Mastercard is able to enhance its international payment offerings. The integration allows Mastercard’s bank, fintech, and corporate customers worldwide to provide consumers with real-time access to the popular e-wallet.
And with a focus on making payments faster and safer, Mastercard is aiming to capitalize on the growing demand for disbursements and remittances.
Global Partnership
Through the Mastercard Move initiative, participating financial institutions gain access to international payments to more than 180 markets. They’re also leveraging a global payout network that covers more than 150 currencies and reaches 95% of the world’s banked population.
Overall, this partnership is helping Mastercard expand its collaboration with Alipay to streamline international fund transfers to China in real-time, benefitting both senders and receivers by making the transaction process easier.
The State of Cross-Border Payments
There’s been an increase in cross-border payments over the years, and as evidenced by this partnership, we expect this trend will only continue to grow. That said, it still relies on inefficient legacy processes and methods, and as a result, is an area ripe for innovation.
A whitepaper from Wells Fargo touched upon how cross-border payments can be unpredictable and costly—and financial institutions looking to make a name for themselves in the space will need to have a strategy in place to tackle the complexity that comes with cross-border payments.
