OVER a million users of the e-wallet app of Asia United Bank (AUB) Corp. can now make cross-border payments as the lender tapped the use of the Alipay-Plus system owned by Hangzhou, China-headquartered Ant Group Co. Ltd.
AUB said the use of Ant’s Alipay-Plus will make it the first Philippine bank to have an e-wallet—called “HelloMoney”—that can be used overseas.
The lender promises that users of the app can experience “seamless payment” when they travel overseas for leisure and business. AUB also promises users can avail of “more competitive exchange rates compared to prevailing market rates.”
AUB Executive Vice President Wilfredo E. Rodriguez Jr. said that over the years, his firm 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, who also heads the lender’s operations and information technology division, added that with Alipay-Plus, “our HelloMoney users will have a wider reach in payment acceptance while ensuring a safe and secure digital transaction.”
The deal with Ant allows HelloMoney users to pay at local merchants accepting Alipay-Plus for shopping, dining, convenience stores, transportation and other travel-related activities. This will first be available for those travelling to South Korea and Japan.
“AUB has been a long-term partner to Ant Group, and we are excited to extend the partnership further to enable its e-wallet’s cross-border operations through Alipay-Plus,” Ant Group executive Jia Hang said.
“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 change currencies,” he explained.
AUB launched HelloMoney before the pandemic in the hopes that users can open an account without going to a physical branch and perform bank-to-bank fund transfers, buy prepaid load, remit money, settle bills, withdraw via ATM and shop using the HelloMoney app.
The launch was immediately followed by the release of a 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.
HelloMoney posted double-digit growth in transactions even as lockdown restrictions have started to ease. As of October, the number of HelloMoney transactions has reached 19 million, a 45-percent increase compared to last year. The value of transactions reached P63 billion or 49-percent higher than in 2021, according to the AUB.