SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Singapore's biggest bank DBS Group and Ant International said on Thursday that they have 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 on Thursday 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.
Separately, DBS and Tencent's TenPay Global signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday to enable DBS customers to scan and pay using Weixin Pay QR codes in China, among other cross-border payment initiatives.
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore and Selena Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
