Alipay+ and Mastercard Bring Overseas NFC Payments to Kakao Pay Users

Alipay+, a global wallet gateway under Ant International, supports Kakao Pay, a leading South Korean mobile wallet, in launching NFC (Near-Field Communication) payment for overseas transactions, through its partnership with Mastercard. Kakao Pay becomes one of the first Alipay+ mobile payment partners to introduce the convenient and secure “tap-to-pay” experiences when its users travel abroad.

Through the collaboration between Alipay+ and Mastercard, Kakao Pay users can now make NFC payments at over 150 million Mastercard merchant locations worldwide, including in Japan, Southeast Asia, the U.S., Europe, Oceania and more. The Alipay+ NFC payment solution complements Kakao Pay’s existing QR code and barcode-based cross-border payments, further enhancing the travel and shopping experience for its users abroad.

NFC payments allow users to simply tap their NFC-enabled Android phone on a contactless POS terminal that accepts Mastercard. This simplifies cross-border commerce, reduces the need of carrying physical payments, and ensures transaction security through advanced authentication and encryption. This service is now available on the latest versions of the Kakao Pay app and will be introduced to the KakaoTalk app for Android later in September, with a sequential rollout planned for iOS (iPhone) in the future.