MasterCard Signs MOU with China’s Alibaba Group (April 1, 2013)
Consumers and businesses inside and outside of China may have enhanced online payment options now that Chinese online commerce giant Alibaba Group and MasterCard have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work together on e-commerce. In addition to enhancing e-commerce, the companies said key goals of the MOU include working to help combat intellectual property infringement and cooperate on innovations surrounding cross-border payments, general payment card acceptance and to enhance security and risk management within MasterPass, MasterCard’s recently announced digital service designed to simplify the consumer online shopping experience.
Alibaba Group, which owns Alipay, has previously partnered with leading Chinese banks to enable a broad array of international e-commerce offerings. MasterCard has a history of establishing relationships with Chinese payments operators through MOUs. MasterCard and China UnionPay in September 2010 signed a MOU that aimed to foster cooperation on e-commerce development and other areas. In June 2011 MasterCard announced the extension of its MOU with CUP that included a Payment Gateway Service Agreement related to cross-border transactions.
