GCash Users Can Now Transact in South Korean Stores via Alipay+
BEIJING – Ant Group said on Monday it would help four Asian e-wallets, including the Philippines’ GCash
and Malaysia’s Touch’n Go expand into South Korea with its cross-border payment service Alipay+,
as travel restrictions begin to lift across Asia.
The move will allow users of e-wallets that use Alipay+, including GCash, Touch’n Go, Thailand’s TrueMoney,
and AlipayHK to pay at over 120,000 merchants using their local mobile payments apps when travelling in
South Korea, the Chinese fintech giant said in a statement.
“It is our pleasure to connect merchants in Korea with a variety of mobile payment methods, enabling Asian
tourists to pay with convenience and simplicity in Korea using their preferred home e-wallets,”
said Danny Chung, General Manager of Ant Group Korea, Australia, and New Zealand
In early September 2022, South Korea placed a halt to their pre-departure COVID-19 test requirements for
overseas travelers. This is in line with other countries like Japan which also removed these protocols.
“With South Korea being one of the most popular destinations of Filipinos, we are delighted that our customers
will be able to maximize their GCash app during their travels. This collaboration with Alipay+ provides our users
the convenience they need to easily transact and manage their expenses with GCash. This innovative partnership
aligns with our vision of financial inclusion and is a huge step towards building a cashless ecosystem, worldwide,”
said Martha Sazon, President and CEO at Mynt, which operates GCash.
In recent news, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) revealed that it has tied up with GCash to allow the users of
the mobile wallet to invest in the stock market. This will be implemented by the end of the year.
GCash has also added another layer of protection for its users by putting anonymously its client’s name when
making transactions to eradicate, or if not lessen the scammer’s scheme of using the names of
mobile owners in their automated SMS messages.
