MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s largest lender Sberbank on Tuesday said it had launched money transfers to Alipay wallets in China using phone numbers.
State-controlled Sberbank, which has customers in 18 countries, launched the service together with Western Union. For a transfer fee of 1%, customers can credit an Alipay account in Chinese yuan with just the recipient’s full name and phone number.
“We have added one more country to the geography of Sber’s cross-border transfers today. I am certain that remittances to China will be sought after among our clients,” said Leonid Shnyr, Sberbank’s director of payments and transfers.
Inter-bank transfers using a mobile number are common in Russia. Sberbank now offers cross-border transfers in more than 30 countries. Other Russian banks, such as online-only Tinkoff also offer similar services.
Alipay is part of Alibaba Group.
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
