China

Canadian cross-border payment provider SnapPay is expanding its two-year partnership with China's Ant Financial to bring the Alipay app to the country's FoodyMart grocery chain.

China dwarfs the U.S. market in e-commerce adoption and is likely to be soon giving lessons to internet executive from U.S. and Western countries.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s business-to-business trading platform has forged its first U.S. partnership with a large company as it teams up with Office Depot Inc.

JD.com Inc. posted fourth-quarter revenue ahead of estimates, as Singles Day promotions helped the Google-backed online retailer fend off competition despite a decelerating Chinese economy.

While payments firms must navigate political and regulatory waters, consumers and merchants are best served by a competitive free market free of politics, with minimalist regulators playing the role of the night watchman, writes Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

Ant Financial, the Chinese payments company that operates Alipay, has a scale that’s almost unimaginable to a U.S. audience. But the giant's ability to build a true empire has already run into regulatory trouble in the U.S.—and it’s affecting Ant's strategy worldwide.

Global politics are dividing the world of e-commerce, forcing companies to make tough decisions about their strategies for the U.S., India and other regions.

Just as Silicon Valley companies are happy to supply their employees with millions of dollars in free meals and snacks at the office to supplement incomes, many Chinese companies are similarly, indirectly liberal outside the office, around expenses, writes Josh Anish, director of marketing at AppZen.

Visa CEO Alfred Kelly said the company's earnings, though solid, could suffer if if politicians in Washington and London don’t resolve their biggest issues.

Mastercard is making another run at getting a license to operate in China, though China's changing regulatory posture has created skepticism about its willingness to open its market.

Even though American Express received pre-approval to provide transaction settlement services in China more than a year ago, it is playing the waiting game to get those wheels in motion amid a fiery political climate.

Local payment methods cater to the technology and user-experience needs of specific regions, says Steve Villegas, vice president of partner management at PPRO.

The Chinese government is not formally considering Visa and Mastercard’s year-old application to process payments inside China, another signal of China’s almost constantly changing regulatory posture toward the American card brands.

As the payment industry continues to innovate and expand across borders, it increasingly will need to be mindful of data regulations requiring data localization that multiply the complexities and cost of creating a seamless data flow and user experience, Alston & Bird’s Richard Willis and Laura K. Song write.

British payments technology company Moorwand is offering the first UnionPay prepaid cards in the U.K. on its UPayCard branded prepaid platform, with a larger roll-out planned for consumers and corporations during the first quarter of 2019.

Canaan Inc., China’s second-biggest maker of Bitcoin mining hardware, is considering listing in the U.S. after shelving plans for a Hong Kong initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said.

China’s expanding number of tourists is creating demand for more payment choices, and Wirecard hopes to tap into the growth with a prepaid card it’s developed with Ctrip, China’s largest travel agency.

Banks, retailers and technology companies have spent years relentlessly working to replace cash with plastic, digital or mobile alternatives. And cash has hit back hard.

Nearly a year after Chinese phone maker Huawei announced plans to expand Huawei Pay internationally, the mobile payment service has gone live in Russia, its first foreign market.

The 2019 outlook for China’s cross-border e-commerce sector remains positive due to strong consumer demand, favorable regulations and tech-savvy shoppers’ interest in convenient mobile pay options, writes Franklin Chu, managing director for Azoya USA.