Asset World Corp. Public Company Limited and Ant Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to launch various cross-border payment and digital financial solutions catered to the needs of AWC?s different businesses across hospitality, retail, wholesale and commercial, benefitting consumers, merchants and small businesses. One of the key initiatives under this collaboration is the implementation of WorldFirst cross-border business payment solutions for "PhenixBox," AWC's omnichannel online platform that processes trade activities from offline to online at its wholesale centers.

By the end of 2023, AWC plans to enable local buyers, including SMEs, in Thailand to place orders and make payments in Thai Baht to global sellers, while enabling the sellers to collect payments in various major trade currencies. Through Alipay+, AWC?s network of hospitality and retail businesses will be able to accept cross-border payments from leading Asian mobile wallets. This includes upscale hotels managed by leading global hotel chains and trendy malls such as Asiatique, in popular tourist destinations like Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket.

At these locations, international visitors can simply pay with their home local mobile wallets, eliminating the hassle of currency exchange and concerns about hidden fees. Alipay+ is a suite of global cross-border digital payments and marketing solutions designed to enable businesses, especially small and medium-sized businesses, to process a wide range of mobile payment methods and reach 1 billion regional and global consumers, through one-time integration and simple technical adaption. Currently, four mobile wallets are accepted in Thailand through Alipay+, including Alipay from Chinese mainland, AlipayHK from Hong Kong SAR, Touch ?n Go eWallet from Malaysia and Kakao Pay from South Korea.

2C2P, a full-suite payment platform provider and strategic partner of Ant Group, will support the partnership between AWC and Ant Group.