Aleta Planet to enable merchants to accept Discover and Diners Club International cards for e-commerce payments

Singapore - Aleta Planet, a fast-growing Singapore-based fintech, has partnered with Discover Global Network, the international payments brand of Discover Financial Services, to enable merchants in Asia Pacific to expand e-commerce payment acceptance and grow their customer volume.

Starting from Q2 2021, Aleta Planet, as an acquirer for Discover Global Network,will begin enabling merchants in Singapore to accept online transactions from cardholders using cards issued by Discover and Diners Club International, as well as their network alliance partners including RuPay in India,BC Card in South Korea, Troy in Turkey, and many more alliances around the world.

Besides Singapore, Aleta Planet will expand online merchant acceptance for Discover Global Network to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Dubai and Australia.The move marks a key milestone for Aleta Planet as it looks to expand its partnerships with different cardschemes. The company,founded by former banking veteran Ryan Gwee, started business as a certified principal member of UnionPay International. While Aleta Planet’s expertise remains on payments to and from China, the move broadens its solutions to facilitate transactions with other economic powerhouses such as the US, India and South Korea.

Aleta Planet’s Chairman and Group CEO Ryan Gwee said: “This partnership with Discover will expand e-commerce payment methods for our growing list of merchants and help them reach millions of new consumers around the world, including in India and South Korea.

“A growing number of Asian consumers continue to jump on the e-commerce bandwagon, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic when lockdowns have pushed millions of shoppers online. Making it easy for these consumers to pay with whatever cards they have is the best way for us to serve our clients who are in the B2C and B2B space.”

According to market research firm Statista, revenue from the e-commerce market in Asia is projected to grow by 13 percent year-on-year to reach US$1.6 trillion in 2021.

“The partnership between Aleta Planet and Discover will expand our digital acceptance footprint in Asia Pacific, opening new avenues for us to collaborate and honour consumer choice while also driving greater benefits to merchants by offering our cardholders across the world more options in how and where they pay online and in-app,” said Jonathon Gould, Regional Managing Director, Global Acceptance, Asia Pacific at Discover.

“As more merchants embrace e-commerce in their growth strategy and further pivot to digital amidst the global pandemic, we are committed to working with our acquiring partners to expand our payment acceptance, both in person and online.”

Discover Global Network has over 50 million merchant acceptance locations and two million ATM and cash access locations across more than 200 countries and territories. Discover Global Network includes Discover Network, Diners Club International, PULSE and more than 20 alliance partner networks across the globe.