In a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) BNP Paribas agreed to work with Ant International to enable thousands of merchants that use the French bank’s acquiring service across Europe to accept payments from more than 25 international mobile partners via Alipay+.The two sides also agreed to work together to strengthen WorldFirst’s participation in the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) scheme. WorldFirst, Ant International’s one-stop digital payment and financial services platform for global businesses, will reinforce its participation in Sepa to enable businesses to make online cross-border payments and fund transfers more seamlessly across Europe.BNP Paribas will sponsor WorldFirst’s participation in the Sepa scheme, providing expertise and products to expedite its integration and onboarding onto Sepa. In addition, BNP Paribas will explore innovations in tokenised deposits for global treasury management via Ant’s blockchain-based Whale platform. The collaboration aims to improve the efficiency and speed of global fund settlements through the use of tokenised deposits.Ant International will leverage BNP Paribas’ infrastructure to further develop its Whale platform to improve the efficiency and transparency of fund movement between bank accounts for better global liquidity management.Pierre Fersztand, global head of cash management, payments, trade solutions & factoring at BNP Paribas added: “This new agreement with Ant International deepens a long-term collaboration that started in 2016 when Alipay+ was rolled-out in Europe. This is a key step in bolstering our service offering while leveraging on each other’s strengths to offer our clients the best service when it comes to cross-border payments. Additionally, we are keen to foster innovation with such a key player to develop tomorrow’s treasury management standards.”