Asia

Ant Financial, the Chinese payments giant controlled by Jack Ma, is expected to close a fundraising of at least $10 billion in the next few days, attracting Carlyle Group and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as first-time investors, according to people familiar with the matter.

China hasn't exactly opened its arms wide to embrace U.S. payments companies, but the nation has gradually become more accepting of the foreign payments businesses that view its tech-savvy population as a lucrative market.

Across the globe, many different populations have distinct reasons for being unbanked. To reach these audiences, mainstream financial companies are discovering approaches that wouldn't be possible in the U.S.

Instead of expanding Alipay’s geographic reach across the U.S. and Canada, Alipay is doubling down on merchant acceptance in urban areas and tourist zones to drive more spending volume.

The deal, Walmart’s biggest ever, gives it greater access to India’s e-commerce market, which Morgan Stanley has estimated will grow to $200 billion in about a decade. But it will take some time for the business to turn profitable.

Amazon and Walmart are battling to build an e-commerce presence in India, making Flipkart a key target for an aquisition.

Amazon is trying to acquire Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart, in part to gain control over that country's e-commerce market and in part to make sure Walmart doesn't get hold of the company.

Helped by its role as a transportation fare option, Apple Pay enjoyed a strong second quarter, driving revenue in Apple's services division as well as the company's overall $61.1 billion revenue for the quarter.

Australia is the latest country to enable Faster Payments with the February 2018 launch of the New Payments Platform. It's 10 years behind the U.K.'s version, but benefits from a decade of experience and observation.

Ant Financial Services Group has formed a strategic partnership with bKash Limited, the mobile payments platform Bangladesh’s central bank established to expand financial inclusion.