Alibaba's financial arm seeks overseas partners

HANGZHOU - Ant Financial, the financial arm of Internet commerce giant Alibaba, said it is discussing working with online service companies in several countries.

"We are seeking to cooperate with several companies in Southeast Asia, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Europe," said Peng Yijie, director of international business at Ant Financial.

China has over 400 million mobile payment users and more people increasingly rely on convenient payment services such as Alibaba's Alipay.

Bolstered by experience in the Chinese market, companies like Alibaba are now seeking expansion in the overseas market.

Peng said Paytm, Ant Financial's Indian partner and India's largest mobile payment and commerce platform, has seen its number of users grow rapidly.

By the end of March, active users of Paytm reached 122 million, about 5.6 times the figure in the beginning of 2015.

"We have built strong technological capabilities by supporting mass online shopping holidays such as Singles' Day on November 11 every year," said Peng.

Ant Financial became an investor in Paytm in early 2015. It invested more in September last year, without disclosing its worth or the size of the stake.