Alibaba’s Alipay Approved to Establish Bank (Oct. 7, 2014)
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has moved further into financial services now that its affiliate Alipay, an online payments platform provider, received approval to establish a privately owned bank. The China Banking Regulatory Commission granted permission last week. Approval to start a bank is expected to heat up competition in the online services arena between Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Inc., an Internet service portal provider, which received approval to establish its own bank last July, according to The Wall Street Journal. Last month, Alibaba’s IPO raised $25 billion, a world record.
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