Some New York, Las Vegas Taxis Set to Accept Alipay

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Some New York, Las Vegas Taxis Set to Accept Alipay



Chinese visitors to the Big Apple and Sin City will soon be able to pay for some cabs with Alipay, Ant Financial said Tuesday.

By the end of October, 2,100 Las Vegas taxis will accept the payment platform, and another 14,000 in New York will start taking Alipay in November after an agreement between Alipay and Verifone to extend their payments partnership.

“Paying for taxis can be one of the most stressful elements of traveling abroad, particularly if you don’t speak the language,” said Mr. Souheil Badran, president, Alipay North America. “By extending our partnership with Verifone to taxis in New York and Las Vegas, two of the most popular destinations in America for Chinese tourists, we are giving greater confidence to Chinese travelers that they will be able to pay for their taxi ride using the same convenient payment method they use at home, without language barriers.”

Alipay is China’s leading online payment provider and the primary means of online and mobile payment for Chinese consumers. As millions of Chinese travelers visit North America, the partnership enables Chinese shoppers to use their Alipay Mobile Wallet on Verifone devices, prompting them in Chinese to approve payment in either U.S. dollars or Chinese yuan.

“Chinese visitors to the U.S. are increasing in number every year, and we are continuing to elevate the cashless payment experience by making it easy to pay inside American taxi cabs,” said Amos Tamam, Senior Vice President of Global Taxi Systems, Verifone. “Enabling Alipay acceptance is yet another example of leveraging our smart transportation platform to drive utilization of traditional taxis which offer the safety of licensed and professional drivers along with predictable pricing.”

Alipay is owned by Ant Financial, an affiliate of the Alibaba Group. Alipay has more than 520 million active users. Over 10 million brick-and-mortar merchants accept Alipay in China. Outside of China, Alipay is accepted in over 30 countries. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese traveling overseas and overseas customers buying from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay supports 27 currencies.

Alipay first tied up with San Jose-based Verifone last year to enable merchants in Europe and North America to accept Alipay in stores, driving brand visibility, traffic and sales via its in-app marketing tool.

With Verifone’s mobile point of sale, retailers can accept Alipay in their stores and implement marketing campaigns targeting Chinese consumers using the Alipay app.

 

AlipayAmericasAnt Grouplas vegasPaymentUnited States
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