Alipay and FreedomPay Partner to Provide Seamless Payment Experiences for Chinese Travelers Visiting North America

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NEW YORK, March 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alipay, the world's leading digital payment platform, operated by Ant Financial Services Group, has partnered with FreedomPay, a global leader in secure commerce technology, to bring a seamless payment experience to the millions of Chinese travelers who visit North America each year. The partnership will enable Alipay's more than 600 million Chinese users to easily make purchases at thousands of merchants that use FreedomPay's services in North America, including vendors at airports, entertainment venues, resorts, sports arenas and universities.

Through the partnership, FreedomPay will enable Alipay with new and existing clients, focusing on the travel and hospitality markets, as FreedomPay has a strong presence in Las Vegas, as well as at airports and travel plazas across the U.S. Alipay is China's leading online payment provider and the primary means of online and mobile payments for Chinese consumers. Beyond an improved payment experience, Alipay offers a sophisticated marketing channel. Through Alipay, FreedomPay's merchants will be able to market to Chinese tourists before, during and after their visits, boosting exposure of their businesses among China's rapidly expanding overseas visitors.

"Our partnership with FreedomPay will expand our footprint across North America and offer Alipay across targeted verticals, particularly those that cater to Chinese travelers," said Souheil Badran, President, Alipay Americas. "This partnership enables us to provide a robust, seamless payment-processing solution that ensures our Alipay customers can enjoy an easy and familiar payment experience whenever they travel in North America."

FreedomPay has been helping merchants across multiple verticals securely embrace the latest payment options for more than two decades. Over the past year, the company has grown exponentially, increasing its presence in key markets across the U.S. and internationally in order to deliver secure payment-processing capabilities and insights to more customers across the globe. The FreedomPay Advanced Commerce Platform is the first PCI-validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution to offer EMV, NFC, dynamic currency conversion and real-time data capabilities.

"Our customers choose FreedomPay because we're experienced, reliable and service-oriented," said Tom Durovsik, Founder & CEO of FreedomPay. "By partnering with Alipay, we're opening new revenue opportunities for our customers and connecting them with an important and growing market – Chinese tourists who are visiting North America. Now, our customers can give these travelers the option to use Alipay, the payment method they are most familiar and comfortable with."

About Alipay 
Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world's leading mobile and online payment platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently has over 600 million active Chinese users and over 200 financial institution partners in China. Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Over 40 million brick-and-mortar merchants now accept Alipay across China. Alipay's in-store payment service covers 40 countries and regions across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 24 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies. Follow us on Twitter @antfinancial and @alipay.

About FreedomPay 
The FreedomPay Commerce Platform is the best way for merchants to simplify complex payment environments. Validated by the PCI Security Standards Council for Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) along with EMV, NFC and DCC capabilities, global leaders in retail, hospitality, gaming, education, healthcare and financial services trust FreedomPay to deliver unmatched security and advanced value added services on a global scale. With broad integrations across top point-of-sale, device manufacturers and payment processors, supported by rapid API adoption, FreedomPay is driving the future of commerce and customer interaction around the world.

SOURCE FreedomPay