Alipay extends QR payment reach

Alibaba's payment affiliate Alipay said it has joined with six mobile payment services providers in Europe to collaborate on QR-code payments.

The six parties — Bluecode, ePassi, momo pocket, Pagaqui, Pivo and Vipps — will use a QR code format provided by Alipay, covering more than 5 million digital wallet users and around 190,000 merchants in Europe. 

Bluecode and ePassi will offer technical services to the participants.

Merchants that already accept mobile payments via the six apps will be able to accept payments by customers from other countries covered by the collaboration.

Ailpay users in China will be able to pay in Europe without downloading a separate app for each country. 

Rune Garbog, CEO of Vipps, commented: "We are extremely enthusiastic about new partners joining this collaboration, giving all our combined users broader possibilities for using their preferred mobile app when travelling abroad.”

Helsinki-based ePassi and Oslo-based Vipps are already preparing to use the QR format across several Nordic countries.