China

A CBDC has the potential to be a real game changer for the payment industry if one condition is met: central bank digital currency has to be built as an open and shared infrastructure for the private sector to easily build on top of it, says ConsenSys' Matthieu Saint Olive.

Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group generated about 9.2 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) of profit in the March quarter, offering investors a glimpse of its earnings power in the run up to its mega initial public offering.

Jack Ma’s Ant Group is planning to create a new consumer finance company to bolster its market share in the country’s fast growing online lending industry.

Hong Kong’s leader said she’s having trouble using her credit cards after the U.S. imposed sanctions targeting Chinese officials and their allies in the city.

With the stroke of a pen on Thursday night, Donald Trump made his strategic fight with China hit home for potentially billions of people, generating confusion, panic and fear around the globe.

Citing the benefit of making purchases from home during the coronavirus pandemic, China's UnionPay International is partnering with digital platform Glovo to enable its cardholders in Europe to participate in on-demand shopping.

Three months ago, Stephen Squeri, the chairman and CEO of American Express, declared a global "economic free fall" due to the coronavirus. Its second-quarter earnings show how far a fall it has been.

Ant Group is planning one of Asia’s largest IPOs while the world’s afflicted by a global pandemic, political turmoil and historic economic stress. Despite the chaos — or perhaps because of it — the timing could be right for Ant to challenge the global order in e-commerce and digital payments.

Three years ago, Alipay began its brick-and-mortar conquest of North America, promoting acceptance of the Alibaba affiliate Ant Group's mobile wallet at shops targeting Chinese tourists, eventually reaching thousands of U.S. and Canadian stores.

China has a huge market and entrenched payment firms, but a record of digital adoption that makes it a prime market, says PPRO's Steve Villegas.

Given American Express was reporting a 95% hit to one of its core businesses less than two months ago, announcing access to the world’s largest digital payments market has to be a major sigh of relief — even if there’s still entrenched competitors, an international virus and a cold war to navigate.

New York State regulators may bring an enforcement action against the German bank as early as this month; Wells Fargo’s decision to stop making loans to the dealers has more to do with credit quality than asset limits.

As small businesses' cash flow tightens during the pandemic, Alibaba Group is enabling SMBs to postpone payments for 60 days on cross-border e-commerce purchases.

Trends in China such as mobile payments, omnichannel shopping and social commerce show us what a post-coronavirus world could look like for brands and retailers in the U.S., says Azoya International's Franklin Chu.

The shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical workers is one of the most troublesome elements of the coronavirus outbreak, though prior work to declutter cross-border supply chain payments provides some hope.

Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga says he is certain that science, medicine and innovation will lead the world out of the coronavirus pandemic, but there is little indication of when that will happen.

TransferWise has partnered with Alipay to expand money remittance options for its users to instantly send Chinese yuan to friends and family in China.

Just two months after UnionPay bolstered its support of QR code payments in China through an arrangement with Tencent Holdings Ltd., the company is working with Network International to initiate its first pilot for QR code payments at a merchant location in the UAE.

Alipay, the mobile payment app owned by billionaire Jack Ma, is stepping up its competition with WeChat to get more of its 900 million users to tap expanded services in everything from real estate purchases to restaurant and cinema bookings.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s parcel and meal delivery arms have returned to pre-coronavirus outbreak staffing levels, the latest example of how China’s largest corporations are getting back to work after Beijing’s entreaty to safeguard economic growth.