Xiaomi plans to launch a mobile payments service in China in 2H16, going head to head with Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay which have a combined 90% market share. The news is the latest in a series of moves the smartphone maker has made into financial services. In February, it announced that its payment platform would be integrated with China’s largest online bank BBMC, allowing users to make purchases using their phone number or QR code. Last year it invested around $15.6m in Tiger Brokers, a digital brokerage.
Xiaomi plans to launch a mobile payments service in China in 2H16, going head to head with Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay which have a combined 90% market share. The news is the latest in a series of moves the smartphone maker has made into financial services. Most recently, Xiaomi announced plans to embed Indian e-wallet MobiKwik into its operating system and acquired a 29.5% stake in Sichuan Hope Bank. Last year it invested around $15.6m in Tiger Brokers, a digital brokerage.