Alipay said that the new investment would be used to enhance infrastructure security; develop products to improve ease of use and convenience for customers; continue to grow a massive number of consumer accounts; build a comprehensive network of merchants; and retain and attract top-tier talent from the payments industry.
With this investment, Alipay will be able to attract and train a larger pool of talented professionals from the payments industry to build a globalized e-commerce payment infrastructure. Alipay added that it would commit additional resources into online safety and security, risk and data management, as well as innovate in new technology areas such as mobile payments.
Lucy Peng, CEO of Alipay and CPO of Alibaba Group, said: “Online payment will continue to play an ever-growing and significant role in the development of e-commerce as well as the stimulation of consumer demand. Consumers expect a safe, convenient and affordable globalized payment platform. That’s what we have offered since the creation of Alipay and with this investment we aim to continue playing a fundamental role in the ongoing development of e-commerce in China and around the world.
“A truly first-rate payment infrastructure must be one that offers unquestionable security and an excellent user experience. It must be universally accepted by consumers and merchants. Only a platform with these qualities will be able to meet the growing demands of the hundreds of millions of consumers embracing retail e-commerce.”
