Ant Bank (Macao) has announced that it has launched cross-border payment services for its subsidiary e-wallet Alipay (Macao) through solutions provided by Alipay+, allowing users of the e-wallet to pay for goods and services at more than 25,000 offline merchants in Hong Kong.

Approved Alipay (Macao) users can use the e-wallet to pay with Macao patacas at any Hong Kong merchants that display the logos of “Alipay+” or “Alipay (Macao)”, while enjoying preferential exchange rates with no extra handling fees. Alipay+, which is introduced by Ant Group, provides global cross-border mobile payments and marketing solutions that enable merchants to better serve consumers around the world.

At the same time, Hong Kong businesses that accept payments with Alipay (Macao) will be able to directly receive Hong Kong dollars, automatically exchanged from Macao patacas in real-time. More Hong Kong merchants will gradually be added to the service in the future, following the 25,000 businesses in the initial phase.

“For Alipay (Macao), becoming the first Macao e-wallet to be widely accepted by merchants in Hong Kong is a significant development as this provides greater convenience to users travelling in the Greater Bay Area, while bringing more benefits to Hong Kong businesses,” said Venetia Lee, General Manager of Alipay Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. “We hope that Alipay (Macao) will continue to expand to more regions and countries, allowing Macao users to use their own e-wallet app to travel freely and enjoy more convenience.”

Users will be able to access the new service for offline payments in Hong Kong when they have linked credit or debit cards issued by local banks to their Alipay (Macao) accounts, or after their identities have been authenticated.

The launch of the new cross-border payment service marks a new milestone for the three main e-wallets operating in the Greater Bay Area, namely Alipay, AlipayHK and Alipay (Macao). Currently, AlipayHK users can already make payments in the Chinese mainland and Macao, while Alipay users can pay for goods and services in both Hong Kong and Macao.