Alipay+ has added 10 Asian e-wallets and payment apps to its ecosystem, while Bursa Malaysia, IDX, and SET have signed an MoU to promote ESG adoption.
Alipay+ welcomes 7 Asian e-wallets on board
Ant Group has added seven Asian e-wallets and payment apps to its “Alipay+-in-China” Programme (A+China), allowing users to transact easily in the Chinese mainland across Alipay’s merchant network.
The A+China Programme is Ant Group’s initiative to help introduce international mobile payment services in China. The programme was piloted in late 2022 and joined by AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), Touch ’n Go eWallet (Malaysia), and Kakao Pay (South Korea).
The new additions to this programme are mPay (Macao SAR, China), Hipay (Mongolia), Changi Pay (Singapore), OCBC (Singapore), Naver Pay (South Korea), Toss Pay (South Korea), and TrueMoney (Thailand).
According to a statement, users of these e-wallets may use their payment app wherever Alipay works.
The A+China Programme extends the Alipay+ service into China’s massive merchant network with tens of millions of points of sales. Outside China, Alipay+ claimed that it is available to 5 million merchants in 56 markets. It works with over 20 mobile payment partners across Asia, serving over 1.4 billion consumer accounts.
IDX, SET, Bursa Malaysia ink MoU on ESG adoption
Bursa Malaysia Berhad, the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote collaboration in ESG practices, according to a joint statement on Tuesday.
The MoU, which was signed on the sidelines of the 36th ASEAN Exchanges CEOs Meeting, aims to spur the adoption of good ESG practices while offering cross-border ESG-related investment opportunities within the respective markets.
The exchanges are set to explore a range of initiatives which include efforts to identify critical components in ESG infrastructure, create a “sandbox” environment designed to facilitate business innovations, and hold knowledge-sharing programmes.
The MoU was signed by Bursa Malaysia CEO Muhamad Umar Swift, IDX President Director Iman Rachman, and SET President Pakorn Peetathawatchai.
“This MoU establishes the groundwork for similar collaborations with other interested exchanges in Asia and lays a solid foundation for engaging partners from the Global North as well,” Swift said in the statement.