Mubasher: Payments and foreign exchange giant Finablr entered into a cross-border remittance partnership with Chinese financial services provider Alipay, both companies announced on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, Alipay users will be provided remittances through Finablrs’ network, which spans touchpoints across 170 countries.

This will include access to Finablr’s trusted global brands, such as Xpress Money, Travelex, Unimoni and UAE Exchange.

Finablr became one of Alipay’s first cross-border remittance partners.

The first phase of the partnership has been fianlised with merging Finablr platform with Ant Financial’s remittance system.

Alipay, which is run by Ant Financial, serves more than 1.2 billion people worldwide as well as local e-wallet partners.

“We are excited to partner with Finablr for global remittances, as we continue to explore new ways to apply our technology in order to benefit more people around the world,” Alipay’s global remittances business head Clara Shi said.

“For example, using blockchain technology developed by Alipay, we have helped launch a blockchain remittance service between our e-wallet partners AlipayHK and GCash, providing round-the-clock, real-time transfers between Hong Kong and the Philippines,” Shi added.