Fintech firms seek boom in e-wallet use
True Money Co, the local fintech service provider, has teamed up with Ant Financial Co to increase local merchant numbers to encourage the use of e-wallets.
Ant Financial is an operator of the Alipay e-wallet service of Alibaba Group, which last year invested a 20% share in Ascend Money Co, the parent company of True Money.
The partnership is an attempt by both companies to drive Thailand toward a cashless society.
The use of e-wallets among Thai consumers is still very low compared with those in China and thus the partnership will help speed up e-wallet’s popularity in Thailand, said Saranrat Srichiraratana, country managing director of True Money Co.
True Money today offers a service called “TrueMoney Wallet”, which covers money top-up, utility bill payments, and e-commerce payments for mobile phone users.
Ant Financial appointed True Money as its eight authorised agents in Thailand. True Money will help Ant Financial increase local merchant partners, especially those popular among Chinese tourists.
True Money Co, meanwhile appointed six master agents to increase offline partners and they will also offer Alipay e-wallet services as well. The six agents are Buzzebees Co, Huanyouji Co, Jimu Internet Technology Thailand, Pay Wing Thailand, True Internet Corp and Wongnai Media.
Ms Saranrat said local merchants can accept payment via both Alipay and True Wallet and this will enable them to generate more revenue. Alipay is the only e-wallet service used by Chinese tourists.
True Money aims to double its active users from last year, which numbered about 2 million people, and quadruple monthly service usage per person. “We also expect our target user groups will cover those over 30 years old, in addition to the tech savvy at present,” she said.
Pipavin Sodprasert, Thailand country manager of Ant Financial Services Group, said Thailand is the second overseas country where the company has expanded, following India.
“We hope TrueMoney Wallet will be popular like Alipay is in China which has 450 million active users, or 80% of the market share,” she said, adding that Ant will assist True Money in the area of technology transfer.
Locally, Alipay has 15,000 service points, which it wants to increase to 50,000. It also wants to raise service usage by Chinese tourists from four transactions to six transactions per trip per person.
Last year, 8.2 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand, 5 million of whom used Alipay in Thailand. This year, the number of tourists is expected to reach 10 million, with 6 million of them expected to use Alipay.
Alipay will add to the number of local outlets Chinese tourists prefer such as King Power Duty free, leading department stores, convenience stores and restaurants. Taxis and tourist boats are the next targets.