OREANDA-NEWS.  VTB Bank, («JSC VTB Bank») and Ant Financial Services Group («Ant Financial»), China’s leading online and mobile financial service provider and related company of Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), have today signed a memorandum of understanding at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Under this agreement, the parties will work closely on the payment and banking services in Russia, to provide comprehensive and reliable shopping experience for Russian consumers as VTB and Ant Financial are officially strategic partners.
Alipay, the online and mobile payment business unit of Ant Financial, will act as a single payment gateway for all local payment options which are available on Aliexpress.com, the most popular e-commerce website in Russia. Under this partnership VTB Bank will help to develop, expand business and increase e-commerce operation efficiency of Alipay and Alibaba Group in Russia. Among the possible cooperation activities there are commercial, corporate and investment banking services of VTB.

President and Chairman of VTB Group Andrey Kostin, Executive Chairman and Founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma and CEO and Executive Chairman of Ant Financial Services Group Lucy Peng attended the signing ceremony.

President and Chairman of VTB Group Andrey Kostin said at the ceremony in Davos: «I am confident that our cooperation with Ant Financial Group and Alibaba Group will be an important step in facilitating trade relations between Russia and China, as well as for the development of e-commerce between the two countries. We expect that the annual volume of trade under this partnership will be billions of roubles a year and we are very much looking forward to working with our Chinese partners on expanding their customer base in the Russian market.»
CEO of Ant Financial Services Group Lucy Peng said: «We are delighted to secure a partnership with such a strong financial institution as VTB Bank and we are sure it will become our valuable strategic partner in the development of Russian e-commerce market, which is one of the most important for AliExpress globally. We regard the Russian market as highly potential for AliExpress and Alipay and make additional step to be closer to the market and local partners and our valuable clients.»

JSC VTB Bank, its subsidiary banks and financial organisations (VTB Group or the Group) comprise a leading Russian financial group, offering a wide range of financial and banking services and products in Russia, the CIS, and select countries of Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. The Group operates in Russia through the parent company VTB Bank and its five subsidiary banks. VTB Group’s largest subsidiary banks in Russia are VTB24 and Bank of Moscow. Its subsidiary financial organisations offer insurance, leasing, factoring, and other financial services, as well as services on the stock market.
VTB Group has the most extensive international network of any Russian bank, with more than 30 banks and financial companies in more than 20 countries.

About Ant Financial
Ant Financial Services Group is focused on serving small and micro enterprises as well as consumers. With the vision «let credibility create wealth for you», Ant Financial is dedicated to building an open ecosystem of Internet thinking and technologies while working with other financial institutions to support the future financial needs of society. Businesses operated by Ant Financial Services Group include Alipay, Ant Fortune, Yu’e Bao, Zhao Cai Bao, Sesame Credit, Ant Financial Cloud and MYbank.