Alipay's New E-Investment Offering 7 Pct Return – Sort Of

(Beijing) – Investors in Alipay's new high-yield wealth management product may get part of their returns in shopping bonus points rather than cash, an analyst says.

Alipay, Alibaba's third-party payment arm, says it will start offering the product on February 14. Investors were told to expect a tantalizing annual yield of up to 7 percent, higher than that of Yu E Bao, a popular money market fund investment service that Alipay introduced in late June. The new product is available to Yu E Bao users only.