• If Ant Financial is successful in acquiring MoneyGram, the company will be able to bypass all the legal and regulatory work required in establishing Ma’s global payments business.

If Ant Financial is successful in acquiring MoneyGram, the company will be able to bypass all the legal and regulatory work required in establishing Ma’s global payments business. (Photo : Getty Images)

Ant Financial Services Group has agreed on a $200 million strategic investment in Kakao Pay, according to Ant and Kakao's joint announcement. This marks the third major investment of Ant Financial in the online payment sector within the last 12 months.

Ant Financial and Kakao said that the investment will help connect the 450 million global users of Ant with Kakao Pay, which currently has over 14 million members.

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Ant Financial Services Group is the financial services affiliate of Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd., while Kakao Pay is a mobile payment solution provider of a South-Korean based messaging platform company Kakao Corp.,

Douglas Feagin, the President of Ant Financial International, said: “South Korea is an important market for Ant Financial in its global expansion, and we see many opportunities in the market for innovative services and growth in mobile payments."

"Given Kakao’s leading mobile platform offering and vast customer base, we believe we can bring Ant Financial’s broad experience in digital payments and technology-driven financial services to offer exciting and innovative products to South Korean customers," he added.

Kakao Corp was founded in 1995. It currently operates different products in the field of communication, games, lifestyle, financial technology, media, and content. The company is best known for Kakao Talk, its online messaging app.

Kakao Pay was launched by Kako Corp in 2015. After one and a half year since the official launch of its mobile app, it has attracted over 10 million users in total.

Last April, Ant Financial completed a series B round of finance worth $4.5 billion. It also made two investments in international companies following its last funding round.

In Nov. 2015, Ant Financial acquired a 20 percent stake in Ascend Money, Thailand's online payment, with an option to acquire an additional 10 percent in the future. It also acquired MoneyGram International Inc., a US.-based payment company, for approximately $880 million last month.