Alibaba Group will invest a total of CNY5bn ($732m) over the next five years to upgrade its online payment network Alipay’s payment offering for e-commerce in China and around the world.
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.”
Alipay said that the new investment will be used to enhance infrastructure security; develop products to improve ease of use and convenience for customers; continue to grow number of consumer accounts; build a comprehensive network of merchants; and retain and attract top-tier talent from the payments industry.
The company also said that it will commit additional resources into online safety and security, risk and data management, as well as innovate in new technology areas such as mobile payments.
Peng, added: “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.”
Headquartered in Hangzhou, Alipay, China’s online payment network was founded by Alibaba Group in 2004. It had a registered user base of over 300 million as of March 2010.
