Ant Financial, the payment affiliate of Alibaba Group, has acquired Singapore-based payment service HelloPay Group, part of Jack Ma's ongoing drive to boost the Alipay presence in Southeast Asia.

HelloPay is the payment subsidiary of e-commerce firm Lazada Group, which is majority-owned by Alibaba after a $1 billion deal in 2016, and will be rebranded as Alipay in relevant markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, Ant said in a statement.

The rebranded service will remain independent of Alipay’s existing app, which has 450 million users in China and is the country’s most popular mobile payment app. Ant did not disclose the financial details of the HelloPay deal.

Spreading Influence

In recent months Ant Financial has invested in a string of payment firms in Asia, but helloPay represents the firm’s first foray into rebranding an acquisition under the Alipay name.

Last year Ant Financial invested $680 million in Indian e-wallet company Paytm in its first significant foreign expansion efforts as it sought to expand its digital financial services abroad.

Asia And Beyond

It followed that move up by partnering with Thailand’s fintech firm Ascend Money, which also runs a digital wallet service. Under the agreement, Ant Financial will assist Ascend Money to grow its online and offline payments and financial services ecosystem.

Earlier this year the Philippine mobile operator Globe Telecom announced that Ant Financial Services Group had entered into a strategic partnership with Globe Fintech Innovations, (Mynt), a subsidiary of Globe Capital Venture Holdings (GCVHI) to accelerate financial inclusion and upgrade payment services in the Philippines.

Poised to Challenge Dominant Positions

After its original bid in January this year to buy the Dallas based money transfer service MoneyGram in a cash deal worth $880 million came under pressure from a potential rival bidder this week, Ant submitted a hefty second bid valuing MoneyGram at $1.2 billion.

Alipay, is also poised to challenge the dominant position of the Swiss payment solution – Twint. The Swiss stock exchange operator and payment services company, SIX Payment Services and Alipay reached an agreement for the acceptance of POS and E-Commerce payments across Europe.

Businesses operated by Ant Financial Services Group include Alipay, Ant Fortune, Zhima Credit and MYbank.