In payments, it can be all about the brand.
Perhaps that might explain the surprise announcement that Ant Financial’s online payments platform Alipay will be linking with Visa to establish a new payment method targeted to millennials and enable acceptance at any online merchant that accepts Visa Checkout.
The stunner: Paris Hilton will be the face of the joint effort, to be named “ValiPay.”
In an announcement, the two tech and commerce juggernauts conceded that “you simply cannot get traction, or even a headline, without the word pay in it.”