GHL to offer Alipay services in the Philippines this month

KUALA LUMPUR: GHL Systems Bhd will commence Alipay payment acceptance services to the Philippine in-stores merchants as well as online merchants, making it the third Asean country after Malaysia and Thailand to offer a next-generation payment option to merchants.

In a statement yesterday, GHL said, the rollout would start with physical merchants this month and eventually extend to e-commerce merchants.

“The company started with Alipay in 2016 in Thailand and Malaysia in April 2017 and now with the Philippine market, GHL looked to expanding further to the region as Alipay's key Asean partner,” said group chief executive officer Danny Leong.

To date, GHL Thailand has enabled over 900 merchant acceptance points and GHL Malaysia has enable 5,400 acceptance points in the hotels, retail chain stores, convenience stores and F and B space which has high Chinese tourist foot traffic, it said.

Alipay is China's leading mobile and online payment solution, owned by Ant Financial Services Group, a company related to the Alibaba Group.

GHL said 810,807 tourists from China visited the Philippines during the first 10 months of 2017, compared to the whole of 2016, which totalled 675,663.

“With the implementation of the visa upon arrival programme in the Philippines, it is expected to grow further.

“This bodes well for Philippine businesses and merchants as Chinese tourists generally carry the Alipay mobile wallet,” it said. — Bernama