Tencent, Alibaba Compete for Remittances in Southeast Asia

Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent are reportedly ramping up their efforts to capture the remittances market in Hong Kong by launching money transfer services that will allow overseas workers to easily send their money back home at a cheaper cost.

It is said that the firms are aiming to recreate the success of their mobile payment systems WeChat Pay and Alipay overseas, particularly in Southeast Asia where there are approximately 600 million unbanked people.   

According to government data, there are around 370,000 Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong. The World Bank also reported that in 2017, the Philippines had received $32.8 billion in remittances while Indonesia had $9 billion.

Source: Reuters