The president of Ant Financial Services Group has lauded the benefits of market competition among Chinese payment providers in a sign that the company is willing to challenge state-backed China Unionpay, which currently dominates China’s payment market.
Alipay, the online payments unit of Ant Financial, bypasses Unionpay’s network when processing mobile payments to offline merchants like supermarkets, restaurants, and taxis, Eric Jing told the Financial Times in an interview. That means Alipay is effectively diverting billions in fees away from Unionpay, which processes debit and credit card payments.
“We think merchant fees in the US payments market are too high, and it’s not normal. Running a business isn’t easy [for merchants]. The fees are too high,” said Mr Jing. “The situation in the Chinese market is more normal. Merchant fees are reasonable. Competition between different [payment] market actors is a good thing. It allows service recipients to enjoy better service.