Alipay+ and S&P Global have published a report on interoperability, trust, and AI adoption in cross-border commerce.
The study surveyed 6.000 consumers across nine markets in Asia, Europe, and the US on their cross-border spending habits, and points to a shift towards integrated wallet ecosystems that combine payments, rewards, bookings, and artificial intelligence within a single platform.
Cross-border payments remain fragmented
The report found that travel continues to expose gaps in global payment infrastructure. More than half of respondents cited uncertainty around merchant acceptance (53%) or a lack of access to their preferred payment method (54%) while abroad, leading one in four consumers to still carry cash as a fallback option. Mobile payments have become the preferred method for everyday spending on food, shopping, and local attractions, with 63% of consumers already using QR- or NFC-based mobile payments for most transactions while travelling. In addition, the references vary by market: consumers in China, Malaysia, and Thailand favour QR payments, while those in the US, the UK and Germany lean towards NFC-based, card-linked wallets. Security concerns (62%), exchange rates and fees (56%), and unfamiliarity with payment terminals (56%) were also cited as sources of friction.
Consumers favour integrated wallet ecosystems
According to the report, demand is growing for payment apps that extend beyond transactions into broader travel services. Restaurant reservations and payments (61%), all-in-one travel booking (58%) and attraction tickets (57%) ranked among the most requested in-app features globally. Rewards and cashback (52%), favourable foreign exchange rates (51%), and expense tracking (50%) were identified as the strongest drivers of wallet adoption. Demand for single-app, integrated experiences was stronger among consumers in China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, while those in Japan and Germany placed greater emphasis on security and predictable payment experiences.
The report highlights a divide between AI adoption for research and for execution. While 81.3% of consumers already use AI tools to explore destinations, only 26% expressed interest in using AI for autonomous payment decisions, and 73.2% said they would consider AI for hotel or flight bookings over the next twelve months. Privacy concerns were cited by 43% of respondents, while 43% said they prefer to plan travel themselves, and 32% cited a preference for human advice over AI assistance. Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International, said the next phase of global commerce would depend on ecosystems being interoperable and intelligent rather than simply digital, adding that embedding AI within trusted ecosystems would allow consumers to act on intent while retaining control.
Ant International's supporting infrastructure
Alipay+ connects 2 billion user accounts across 50 global payment partners to merchants in more than 220 destination markets, and works with more than ten national payment schemes across Asia and beyond. Moreover, to support agentic commerce, Ant International has introduced the Alipay+ Agentic Mobile Protocol, described as an open-source framework for agentic payments on mobile devices, alongside the Alipay+ Super App Engine (ASAP 2.0), GenAI Cockpit, and the Voyager AI travel agent, aimed at helping wallet partners build AI-native services.
