Alipay rolls out overseas card service

Alipay, China's largest online payment solution provider, launched on Monday an overseas transportation card service to make it easy for Chinese to travel abroad.

With the new service, Chinese travelers can purchase transportation cards in Singapore, Thailand and Macao via the mobile application Alipay Wallet in Chinese yuan.

After purchasing online, travelers can exchange those digital transportation cards into physical cards when they arrive their destinations. The service is expected to roll out in other countries, such as South Korea, very soon.

Peng Yijie, president of overseas operation with Alipay, said that with more and more Chinese backpackers traveling overseas, an increasing number of them start to use public transportation system.

"We want to do more to help improve their traveling experiences," said Peng, adding it is difficult for many of the Chinese outbound travelers to use public transportation system in other countries due to the differences in languages and currencies.

The service marks Alipay's latest move in overseas expansion. Earlier this year, it teamed up with Swiss tax-refund company Global Blue launching a service to enable Chinese tourists to have tax refunds on their shopping paid directly into their Alipay accounts in Chinese yuan.