Chinese fintech giant Ant Group is continuing its expansion in Southeast Asia with a new digital payment service in Singapore, allowing taxi passengers from Malaysia and South Korea to use different apps to pay with their own currencies.
Ant on Thursday unveiled its partnership with ComfortDelGro Taxi, Singapore's largest taxi operator, to enable cashless payments through Touch 'n Go eWallet, the leading mobile payment service in Malaysia, and Kakao Pay, a South Korean digital wallet service, according to a press release. The new payment options will work across a combined fleet of about 9,000 Comfort and CityCab taxis.
The deal allows users to pay their cab fares without needing to exchange currency or download a new app, and instead processes the payments through Ant's Alipay+, a cross-border digital payment service introduced in 2020. Alipay+ currently has more than 1 billion users globally.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
Ant is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, the owner of the South China Morning Post.
Alipay+ is Ant Group's mobile payments service for global merchants, with more than 1 billion users. Photo: Handout alt=Alipay+ is Ant Group's mobile payments service for global merchants, with more than 1 billion users. Photo: Handout>
As part of an early promotion, the partnership is also offering discounts to users. Touch 'n Go eWallet will deduct either 4 ringgits (90 US cents) or 6 ringgits from a user's total fare for the first 300 transactions each day. The discounts will vary by week and end on June 25.
Kakao Pay takes the Alipay+ partnership further with in-store purchases available at some Singaporean shops, including at Changi International Airport, where users can pay with the app at any store featuring the Alipay+ logo such as Lotte Duty Free and Shilla Duty Free.
Ant's expansion could help the fintech firm take advantage of reopening borders across Asia as restrictions introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic ease. Singapore in April removed pre-departure testing requirements for fully-inoculated visitors from all countries.
"This partnership also comes at a great time, as Singapore leads the way in opening up its borders and welcomes tourists back in the city state," said Cherry Huang, Ant Group's general manager for global merchant partnerships in South and Southeast Asia. "We believe this is the perfect moment for tourists to reimagine travel experience post pandemic."