目前微信支付支持① WeChat Pay has added access for 8 overseas institution wallets. ② WeChat Pay will also expand "outsourcing for internal use" to over 10 overseas institution wallets in various countries and regions, including South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and others.
On December 17, the "Star Daily" reported (Reporter Zhang Yangyang) that WeChat Pay has officially established a connection with overseas wallets. Today, WeChat Pay announced that it will deepen cooperation with China UnionPay and UnionPay International, building on the foundation of jointly creating a cross-border scheme for Hong Kong dollar wallets, to connect more overseas wallets and enhance the domestic payment experience.
In simple terms, overseas individuals coming to China can directly use overseas wallet apps to scan WeChat Pay payment codes to complete payments.
Currently, WeChat Pay supports access for 8 overseas institution wallets, including BOC HONG KONG BoC Pay, Octopus, PayMe by HSBC, Tap & Go from Hong Kong, Bangkok Bank Mobile Banking, K PLUS from Thailand, NAVER Pay from South Korea, and ICBC Mobile Banking (ICBC Pay) from Malaysia.
Users can bind UnionPay physical cards in the 8 newly added electronic wallet apps or enable UnionPay's digital issuance within the app to directly use these overseas wallet apps to scan WeChat Pay payment codes to complete payments (i.e., "outsourcing for internal use").
WeChat Pay stated that in the next steps, it will continue to expand the scope of "outsourcing for internal use" to include over 10 overseas institution wallets in various countries and regions, including South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and others.
In recent years, Tencent's CNI Xiangmi Lake Fintech Index business has maintained a lukewarm state; specifically regarding payment business, Tencent clearly stated in the latest quarterly report that revenues have decreased due to weak consumer spending.
Just today, the National Immigration Administration announced that starting today, it will fully relax and optimize the transit visa exemption policy, extending the domestic stay time for transit visa exemption from the original 72 hours and 144 hours to 240 hours.
The extension of visa-free transit stay provides more space for Overseas individuals to consume within the country, and various vendors are also offering more convenient payment solutions for Overseas individuals within the country.
WeChat Pay and WeChat Hong Kong Dollar Wallet pioneered the cross-border solution for Hong Kong Dollar Wallet in collaboration with China UnionPay and UnionPay International in 2018. WeChat Pay now supports users to use it directly by binding international bank cards (referred to as 'foreign card binding'), and WeChat Hong Kong Dollar Wallet also supports Hong Kong users in making convenient payments at millions of merchants within the country.
In addition to WeChat Pay, Alipay previously supported similar operations. In July 2023, Alipay completed service support for Overseas users using Mobile Payments in China. After registering for the international version of Alipay and binding an international card, Overseas users can achieve normal QR code and payment code payment services.
According to data released by Tencent in the financial technology sector, since July 2023, WeChat Pay has provided services to millions of foreign nationals coming to China regarding 'foreign card binding', with transaction volume and amount maintaining high growth trends, reaching tens of millions and tens of billions respectively. As of November 2024, the number of transactions and amounts related to foreign card payments are 6.4 times and 4.5 times that of July last year respectively.
