Alibaba and Tencent cash in on Southeast Asia e-payments boom

SINGAPORE/HANOI -- Chinese tech groups Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings are entrenching themselves in Southeast Asia's booming digital payments market through a sprawling web of proxies, according to research by DealStreetAsia.

Data compiled by DealStreetAsia show that while the tech rivals operate directly in just a handful of countries in Southeast Asia, they back at least 11 digital payment brands or e-wallets in six key markets: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.