SINGAPORE payment services firm Nets will integrate Ant Group’s cross-border payments solution Alipay+ into its merchant portal, enabling businesses here to accept payments from regional e-wallets.

Both companies unveiled their collaboration on Monday (Nov 8) morning, at this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF). The integration is ongoing and targeted to be operationally ready by early 2022.

E-wallets supported under the partnership thus far are Ant’s own AlipayHK, as well as 2 regional e-wallets that the Chinese company is invested in: Malaysia’s Touch ‘n Go and Thailand’s TrueMoney. More e-wallets may be added to the partnership.

Launched by Ant in 2020, Alipay+ is a suite of solutions that allow businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to accept cross-border payment methods, such as localised e-wallets from other Asian countries. Alipay+ also provides merchants with digital marketing solutions. 

By adopting Alipay+, Nets’ merchants will be able to accept payments in Singapore currency from users of popular e-wallets in Asia, who will pay in their home wallet currency.

Ant’s collaboration with Nets is in line with the Chinese fintech company’s “open ecosystem approach”, said Cheng Guoming, general manager of Alipay+ Global Payment Partnership.

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Nets chief executive Lawrence Chan said that his company has been working with partners to help SMEs with digital cross-border payments, as Singapore reopens its economy. “Having the most extensive network of acceptance points in Singapore for static and dynamic QR payments makes us an ideal partner for inbound wallet providers,” he said.

Beside operating Singapore’s national debit scheme, Nets also manages the country’s clearing and payment infrastructure for core electronic transfer services FAST, Inter-bank Giro and PayNow.

Speaking at a SFF panel on Monday, Chan noted that "the fact that payments are now tokenised, and payment credentials can be moved in a very safe manner has really enabled more and more SME merchants to go digital".

However, many merchants in South-east Asia still require more education on how digital payments can be more cost-efficient than cash. This creates an opportunity for more fintech players to come together to push for efficiency and scale in digital payments.

"I think if we can find a way to bring the industry together to drive more consistency in the user experience, both for the buyer and the seller, we will be able to drive potentially more digital sales, especially for small businesses," he added.

Ant has been stepping up collaborations with payments providers and e-wallets across South-east Asia since 2016, with activity still ongoing even as its IPO was halted last year amid China’s tech crackdown. 

The company is focused on business-to-business fintech services in this region, especially in the SME sector. Besides Touch ‘n Go and TrueMoney, other South-east Asian tech ventures it has invested in include Singapore’s restaurant booking platform Chope and e-wallet operators eMonkey (Vietnam), Dana (Indonesia) and GCash (the Philippines).

READ MORE: Ant Group vies for a slice of SE-Asia's SME fintech market