DBS signage is seen in Singapore, October 8, 2019. REUTERS
SINGAPORE, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Singapore’s biggest bank DBS Group and Ant International have on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding to expand their partnership and scale up cross-border payments and fintech services.
The deal, announced at the Singapore Fintech Festival, will allow DBS PayLah! users to make QR code payments at over 150 million merchants in more than 100 markets via Ant’s Alipay+ network, a statement by the companies said.
The companies are also exploring near-instant remittances between DBS customers and 1.8 billion Alipay+ accounts, using global financial messaging standards, according to the statement.
Other areas of collaboration include helping small businesses digitise and advancing blockchain-based tokenised deposits. Both companies said the partnership aims to drive inclusive growth and innovation across the region.
Reporting by Selena Li in Hong Kong and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
