Alibaba Group forms strategic alliance with Bank of China on online payment

BEIJING, July 23, 2009 – Alibaba Group and Bank of China Holdings Limited (Bank of China) today formed a long-term strategic alliance to collaborate on several e-commerce initiatives including online payment, international business cooperation, small business financing and joint marketing.

Under the terms of their alliance, Alibaba Group and Bank of China will jointly develop the Alipay Card (a smart card to be issued by Alibaba Group's subsidiary Alipay, Asia's largest online payment platform) and a trust rating system. They will also roll out a small enterprise loan-assistance scheme and pursue credit card innovation and other innovations related to import-export and small businesses.

"We look forward to this partnership with Bank of China, and leveraging that institution's expertise, to help our small business customers to expand their marketing and sales on a global basis while at the same time also educating ourselves so we can serve our customers even better in the future," said Jack Ma, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, who along with Li Li-hui, President of Bank of China, formally signed an agreement here today. "We also believe this cooperation will help create additional jobs for our member companies."

"The rapid development of e-commerce over the last decade has led to a drastic change in the economic landscape, especially in China. Customers nowadays are becoming more demanding on the scope and quality of customer services, product innovation, operational efficiencies and operating philosophy. Leveraging Alibaba Group's leading edge in e-commerce and its hundreds of millions of customers in China, we are confident that our deepened cooperation will bring both of us all positive influence," said Bank of China in a statement.

In early 2007, Alipay entered into cooperation with Bank of China to launch overseas payment service, enabling Alipay users to purchase products and services from hundreds of overseas merchants. Alipay expanded its cooperation with Bank of China in April 2009 by launching online banking services, which allows customers of Bank of China to enjoy the benefits of online shopping and utility bill payment via Alipay.

Bank of China is one of China's largest state-owned commercial banks with over 10,000 branch offices locally. It is also the most globalized among commercial banks in China, with 600 branch offices spanning 29 countries and regions across the world.

Jack Ma, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, shared his vision for the strategic alliance.

Chen Siqing, Vice President of Bank of China, and Shao Xiaofeng, President of Alipay,
represented the two companies to sign the strategic alliance agreement.

Jack Ma and Bank of China President Li Lihui toasted the new e-commerce collaboration.

About Alipay

Alipay is China's leading online payment solution, enabling individuals and businesses to execute payments online in an easy, safe and secure manner. Alipay had a registered user base of over 200 million as of June 2009. Alipay partners with banks to provide an escrow service for payments, which reduces the settlement risks faced by Alipay's customers in their e-commerce transactions. Alibaba Group founded Alipay, headquartered in Hangzhou, in 2004.

About Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group is a global e-commerce leader and the largest e-commerce company in China. Since it was founded in 1999, Alibaba Group has grown to include the following core businesses: Alibaba.com, Alibaba Group's flagship company and the world's leading B2B e-commerce company; Taobao.com, China's largest consumer e-commerce company; Alipay.com, China's leading online payment service; Yahoo! Koubei, a company providing online classified listings for local services and search; and Alisoft.com, an Internet-based business management software company targeting SMEs in China.