Alipay, China’s biggest online payments platform, is stepping up its global expansion with a major foray into North America, taking on PayPal and ApplePay in their home market. Hangzhou-based Alipay has partnered with U.S. credit card processing service First Data Corp to support mobile payments at four million merchants and retailers in the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile, rival Tencent Holdings has partnered with Citcon, a mobile payments start-up in California’s Silicon Valley, to expand the use of its WeChat Pay platform to support Chinese tourists in the U.S. Alipay was first to collaborate with Citcon in February this year. First Data and Alipay initially cooperated last year, when the two companies successfully tested implementation of Alipay’s mobile payment service in select high-end and specialty retail locations in California and New York. “These developments reflect the rise of Chinese finance platforms,” said Paul Haswell, a partner at international law firm Pinsent Masons. “While their recent moves are aimed squarely at Chinese tourists, you can be sure that both Tencent and Alibaba have their sights set on offering payment and financial services, in general, to non-Chinese consumers in North America,” Haswell said. Alipay has estimated that it has already more than 450 million active users.