支付宝香港：港人前往大湾区需求大 将于3月打通网络 – 东方财富网
What happened: AlipayHK has announced that travelers from Hong Kong will be able to use the app in cities in the Greater Bay Area, including Shenzhen and Guangzhou, as well as in the Japanese city of Fukuoka beginning in March. The company said users will be able to make purchases at any locations that accept Alipay in the selected Chinese cities. In Fukuoka, AlipayHK users can use the e-wallet service at Daimaru Tenjin, a popular Japanese department store chain.
Why it’s important: This marks the first time a local Alipay partner has expanded into cross-border, offline payments. Alipay currently has nine e-wallet service partners including Paytm in India, Dana in Indonesia, and SnapPay in Canada.
Alipay launched the localized standalone app for Hongkongers in 2017, providing features such as mobile payment and P2P transfers in local currency. Alipay has been eager to expand its payment services in Hong Kong. In November, AlipayHK announced that users will be able to use the app to pay for subway rides as early as 2020, and that more than 25,000 retail outlets in Hong Kong now accept AlipayHK.