Opera, an Internet search engine which founded OPay due to the web-browser’s popularity, was acquired in 2016 for USD 600 million by a consortium of Chinese investors.

While it is seemingly a marketing gimmick aimed at enhancing brand awareness, the photo retouching feature reveals Ant Financials’ ambition to drive broader adoption of its facial recognition payment.

EO Intelligence Report -- Ant Financial Case Study

Working with more than 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution partners, Alipay currently supports 27 different exchange rates.

By allowing transactions through Alipay or WeChat Pay apps, some of the Chinese vendors who run businesses in Nepal will provide a Chinese QR code for customers to scan. Thus the money bypasses the Nepali financial system.

Around 1,000 7-Eleven chain stores in more than 11 cities in Southern China will be equipped with Alipay's facial-recognition payment device to realize a more safe and efficient way of mobile payment.

Given the huge C-end user base (almost 700 million users in China and 1 billion users worldwide), Ant Financial is continuously launching new attempts in the B-end businesses to expand this accumulated users premium.

Alipay handles more B2C or consumption-related payment activities, while Tenpay has a larger share of C2C transfers. The overseas expansion competition between the two is fierce in Southeast Asia and beyond.