WeChat Pay to accept global cards from July

Tencent will allow visitors to China to pay with international credit or debit cards such as Visa via WeChat Pay from mid July, enhancing mobile payment experiences for overseas visitors in the country. 

Royal Chen, vice president of Tencent Financial Technology, who spoke at a panel during the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin on 28 June, said the company's efforts to further open payment services to visitors coincide with the full resumption of travel and tourism to China, as well as major upcoming international events in the country scheduled this year.

"Tencent has been working hard to provide greater access to China’s online and offline merchants for overseas visitors under the support of relevant regulatory bodies and policies," he added.

Once the overseas credit or debit card is connected to WeChat, visitors will have access to a wide range of merchants and services including shopping, dining, hotel accommodations and transportation, spanning both online and offline experiences and covering all aspects of life in China, according to Chen. 

On the other hand, back in 2019, Weixin Pay also began supporting overseas users in linking their international credit cards for use with various pilot online services, including ride-hailing service Didi, eCommerce app JD.com, travel booking app Ctrip, and 12306, the official train ticket booking site run by China Railway.

Since 2021, Weixin users have been able to receive wages or family support remitted to China from major global remittance institutions, such as Wise and Remitly. Overseas users can forward the remittance notification to Weixin with one click, and their family members can receive the money through Weixin messages, making cross-border remittance as easy as sending a text message.

In future, Weixin’s ecosystem will be further opened to global payment and financial partners for a new, open, diverse, and inclusive global payment network through the ecological connection of payment networks in various regions of the world, and to better connect crossborder services. "We are proposing an innovative concept, the "1+1+1” model, to build an open global payment network," Chen said. 

Meanwhile, Chinese fintech companies are innovating to make cross-border remittances as easy as sending messages, while ensuring transaction security and compliance. In 2016, WeChat Pay HK launched We Remit cross-border remittance, which enables domestic helpers to send money back to their families in the Philippines and Indonesia. "Their family members can receive the money in a few minutes and even withdraw the funds at local pawnshops. Without changing the habits of users in various regions, the network was connected through technology and innovative solutions to reduce the digital divide," Chen added.

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