Ant Financial, the finance arm of Alibaba Group, and smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi have announced they are jointly developing a mobile payment system that will employ wearable technology, making the two companies the first of Chinas major tech firms to do so.

Ant Financial, which is responsible for Alipay, Chinas most popular digital payment system, will enable the Alipay Wallet mobile app to connect with Xiaomis recently released Mi Band wearable, enabling users to make payments with the fitness tracking bracelet.

The link between Alipay and the Mi Band will initially only be available for Android (which Xiaomis phones run on) but will expand to iOS with the next version, and will employ an encrypted link to avoid the potential security dangers of an NFC connection.

While the linking of wearable technology with mobile wallet has been seen before, the partnership between Ant Financial and Xiaomi will mark the first wide-scale rollout of such a solution in China, where this functionality has seen very limited adoption so far.

Alipay has also announced that it is partnering with US air travel operator Delta Air Lines to enable tickets to be booked using its digital wallet, with the aim of encouraging Chinese consumers to travel using the brand.