Money20/20 Day One: Credit, cash and Alipay

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The effect of Alipay is unsurprisingly colossal. It’s quickly become an essential part of the Chinese consumers’ daily lives – used by more than 520 million users, of which 10 million of those are classified as “high spenders”.

Alipay is accepted in more than 30 countries and regions to enable Chinese tourists to “travel like locals” when they are visiting abroad.

According to the World Tourism Organization, the Chinese tourism market is estimated at more than $164 billion and the Chinese are the largest spenders worldwide. Of those tourists, 70% of Chinese consumers are Alipay users.

Souheil Badran, President of Alipay North America, spoke about the opportunity with Chinese tourists, driving trends from China to the US and how Alipay has integrated services within the app and formed partnerships to bring ease to the consumer.

During his talk, Badran said that “Alipay has become an essential part of the Chinese consumer.

“For us, it’s all about the consumer user experience.”

Speaking about the partnership with Verifone to enable Chinese consumers to pay for services such as taxis around the US, Badran says the payment options available are ‘Credit, cash, and Alipay.”

Apple Pay: The future of the everyday spend

Jennifer Bailey, Vice President of Internet Services at Apple Pay opened the keynote presentation at Money20/20 this year.

She began her presentation by discussing Apple Pay’s impressive global stats: The tech is currently in over 20 global markets that make up over 70% of the world’s global card payments volume.

There are also more than 4,000 issuers worldwide supporting Apple Pay.

“Apple pay acceptance has gone from 3% acceptance since the launch three years ago, to over 50% now,” says Bailey.

“90% of all mobile transaction needs are now via Apple Pay. This is the fastest contactless adoption in any market.”

Bailey also stated that 67 of the top 100 retailers in the US accept Apple Pay, and the number is growing.

“Apple pay is the future of everyday spend”

And in true Steve Jobs style, Bailey noted that there’s one more thing before closing her speech – Apple Pay Cash. Users will soon be able to send money via messages with Apple Pay, where consumers can use Siri to send and receive payments.

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