Alipay to expand mobile payment service to Taiwan

With the expansion, tourists in Taiwan will soon be able to buy from an array of vendors using the mobile app from Alipay.

Moreover, the mobile payment services will help small vendors in Taiwan who cannot afford cross-border credit card systems such as Visa, eliminating the need to convert renminbi to New Taiwan dollars.

Currently, Alipays system is available only to mainland travelers in Taiwan, but the company is working to expand the service to Taiwan residents.

Vendors that have signed up for Alipays payment system include department stores, supermarkets, street vendor associations and chain stores.

Although currently only a few stores in Taiwan offer the service, the total number of vendors to adopt the mobile payment service is expected to reach 3.000 by the end of 2015, according to the company. What`s more, E.SUN Bank expects the total number to reach 10,000 in 2016.

Alipay claims to have more than 400 million users, including 270 million active users via mobile phones. A number of vendors in tourist destinations such as the Republic of Korea and Macao have adopted the service.