Commonwealth Bank launches China's Alipay in Australia

The CBA has launched Alipay in Australia.

The Chinese payment app will be available on the bank's 94,000 touchscreen devices in stores across the country.

Alipay is expected to make it easier for Chinese tourists to spend here and for Australians who want to do business with China’s giant ecommerce platform Alibaba.

China is Australia’s largest tourism market, with 1.4 million Chinese visiting in the last year, injecting $10.9 billion into the local economy and 166,000 Chinese nationals studying in Australia, representing 43% of all international enrolments.

And with the festive season fast approaching, the payment app is expected to attract additional sales in what is a busy travel period for Chinese consumers.

The agreement, first publicised in 2016, is with Ant Financial Services Group, the Alibaba affiliate said to be China’s most valuable financial technology company, which runs AliExpress, a platform for Chinese merchants to sell to global consumers.

"This is a game changer and we are thrilled to be the first major bank to provide Alipay as a payment option for customers, through our market leading and innovative apps ecosystem, Albert App Bank," CBA Executive General Manager of Business Customer Solutions Clive Van Horen said.

“We are constantly working on payment solutions that offer flexibility and choice for our customers, and this is another example of CBA’s leadership in the delivery of technology-enabled business solutions, coming on the heels of recently launched products including Simplify, Daily IQ, Wiise, and the pilot of CommBank Health Claim.”

Additional reporting by Chris Pash.