Visa Launches Omni Loyalty Platform; Alibaba Kicks Off ‘Malaysia Week’

Consumers in Sweden and Norway are more likely to take out a loan this summer than borrowers in Finland, according to a press release from Tieto. While 22 percent of Swedes and 21 percent of Norwegians are seeking to borrow money, only 14 percent of Finns are looking for summer loans.

And GIMAC and TerraPay have teamed up to strengthen the remittances ecosystem in Africa, TerraPay said in an announcement. Through a partnership, the companies will enable instant cross-border money transfers in countries such as Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and Chad.

In the U.S., Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) is now allowing airlines to accept Alipay as a payment option for tickets, the company said in an announcement. Chuck Fischer, ARC’s managing director of airline service, said that “Alipay is widely recognized as one of the largest payment platforms in the world, and as people from China travel to the U.S., they want to use their preferred payment method.”

Also, Visa is launching an omnichannel digital points redemption platform called Visa Loyalty Solutions (VLS) for all issuing banks in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the company said in an announcement. The platform, which allows consumers to exchange loyalty points anytime and from any device, was co-created by Visa LAC along with AXIS (formerly Novae).

In Asia, Citigroup Inc. will reportedly create a business desk for China in India, Reuters reported. The banking group is intending to set up the desk in Mumbai, and already has a business desk for South Korea in New Delhi.

And Alibaba Group has kicked off an online campaign dubbed ‘Malaysia Week,’ the eCommerce retailer said in an announcement. The campaign, which is said to be featured on Tmall, will include the participation of over 50 Malaysian brands.

On another note, Royal Group has notched first sharia-compliant financing for a property worth approximately $221 million, Deal Street Asia reported. The news comes as Singapore seeks to bring in religious investors from the Gulf and Southeast Asia.