Kenya’s Equity Bank strategizes its plan to enhance WeChat Pay, Alipay presence in Africa

Kenyan-based regional financial institution Equity Bank (Equity Bank Kenya Ltd.) contemplates enhancing presence of WeChat Pay and Alipay in Africa.

Jack Ngare, Managing Director of Finserve Africa, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Equity Bank, told Xinhua in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi that they have already made the Chinese financial technology service available in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. “We are currently at advanced stages of rolling out WeChat Pay and Alipay to merchants in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the end of the year and thereafter to additional Africa markets,” Jack Ngare said.

Ngare said that its payment gateway service will allow merchants in the east and central Africa to accept payments from users of WeChat and Alipay. “We are also planning to leverage on the growing Sino-Africa trade and make bilateral trade to become more digital-based and reduce the need to carry cash,” he added. He added that the aim of the fintech service is to boost foreign exchange inflows into Africa, as reported by Xinhua.

Equity Bank has subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and DRC.

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