Ant Financial taps blockchain technology to offer cheaper international money transfers

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

By Zen Soo

Ant Financial Services has taken a step towards dramatically lowering the cost of sending money overseas, in a move that will help the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos working in Hong Kong.

These workers collectively transfer about HK$4.4 billion (US$561 million) annually to family and friends back home and, by using revolutionary blockchain technology, Ant Financial – an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding – aims to eventually cut the cost of these remittances to near zero.

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma Yun said on Monday he wanted to find a way to help people.

“This comes from a promise I made a long time ago when Alipay was just launched,” said Ma, whose company Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Photo courtesy of John Twohig.

Source: South China Morning Post (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Finance
Tags
blockchain, financial inclusion, fintech, remittances