What’s new: Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. has upgraded its service that allows users to link international cards to its payment platform Weixin Pay, in a bid to enable foreign visitors to “pay like a local,” the company said in a Thursday statement.
After entering the Chinese mainland, people from overseas can now link their credit or debit cards issued by Visa, Mastercard, JCB or Discover Global Network to Weixin Pay — which is embedded in Tencent’s ubiquitous WeChat app — to access tens of millions of merchants, the statement said. The merchants span sectors from dining, shopping, transport to hotel accommodation.
Previously, overseas users had already been able to link certain international cards to Weixin Pay since late 2019, but the service only allowed them to access dozens of merchants. Therefore, foreigners in China had to open a Chinese bank account to fully access Weixin Pay.
Under the updated service, Weixin Pay is waiving transaction fees for payments of 200 yuan ($28) or less to meet their robust need for small-amount, high-frequency purchases, while a 3% fee will be charged for each transaction over that amount, according to the statement.
The background: Previously, short-term overseas travelers often found it difficult to make everyday payments in China, such as for meals or groceries, as many businesses accepted only mobile payments, instead of cash or cards.
With China reopening its borders after three years of Covid-19, regulators have been calling for domestic payment service providers to improve foreign tourists’ payment experience, especially as the country prepares to host a series of international events, including the Asian Games starting in September.
Weixin Pay and Ant Group Co. Ltd.’s Alipay dominate China’s mobile payment market. Last year, Alipay also upgraded its service to allow overseas users on the mainland with only international bank cards to access tens of millions of local merchants on the platform.
Read more Caixin Explains: What China’s New Payment Rules Mean for Alipay, WeChat Pay
Contact reporter Zhang Ziyu (ziyuzhang@caixin.com) and editor Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)
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