Sber has reportedly marketed money transfers to Alipay wallets in mainland China by using phone numbers.
In order to make a remittance payment, users simply need to indicate the phone number and full name of the intended recipient via SberBank Online, and the funds will be automatically credited to the digital wallet in the Chinese yuan. The service has been introduced with assistance from Western Union.
As mentioned in the update from Sberbank, the transfer fee is 1%.
Leonid Shnyr, Director of Payments and Transfers, Sberbank:
“We have added one more country to the geography of Sber’s cross-border transfers today. I am certain that remittances to China will be sought after among our clients.”
Andrey Ageev, Regional VP for Russia & CIS, Western Union, remarked:
“We are happy that the service that Sber offers its clients through the Western Union digital platform is evolving successfully. It is a pleasure that the service is becoming available among a growing number of clients. Due to our partnership with Alipay, receiving money in China will become even more convenient.”
The Western Union Company is an international provider of cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments.
With its global reach, Western Union currently moves over 130 different currencies seamlessly across its network of more than 200 countries and territories, “uniting consumers, companies, financial institutions, and governments through one of the biggest networks in the world.”
Alipay is notably one of the largest payment systems used by more than 460,000 firms. Launched in 2004, it is part of Alibaba Group.
As covered, Sber had revealed in November 2021 the opening of its first research and development (R&D) center in Europe at Web Summit, which is Europe’s largest tech conference, presently being held in Lisbon.
Executive Vice President of Sberbank, CTO of Sber, and head of Technology David Rafalovsky commented on the news in his address.
The center will reportedly be based in Berlin and will mainly focus on attracting high-potential IT developers, architects, and machine learning experts. Professionals from across the globe will be working on Sber’s technological ideas, including SberDevices, SberCloud and SberAutoTech products and services. The R&D center will begin operating in Q1 2022 after obtaining regulatory clearance.
In other updates, it was revealed that SberInsurance now offers 25% off Injury Protection policies between February 4 and 20. And Sber is helping 2.6 million entrepreneurs learn how to develop a business.