Tencent joins hands with major international credit cards to allow more foreigners to use WeChat Pay
- Tencent announcement follows Alipay’s move to give foreign visitors to the mainland access to its mobile payments platform under a program called ‘Tour Pass’
Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings is expanding access to foreigners for its digital payments service WeChat Pay in China through tie-ups with international credit card companies, hot on the heels of Alipay's new plan to launch its international e-wallet program.
The Shenzhen-based company said its cooperation with international card organisations has been expanded to five major card organisations including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Global Network (including Diners Club) and JCB, to allow users to link their international credit cards to its WeChat payments platform.
This will allow users to pay for goods and services from dozens of Chinese merchants such as China Railway 12306 online tickets service, ride-hailing service Didi, e-commerce site JD.com, online travel agent Ctrip and food delivery service platform Meituan among others. The move comes as China continues to open up its burgeoning cashless society to visitors.
“In recent years, more and more overseas visitors are travelling to mainland China and some have chosen to stay and work here,” Tencent said in a statement on Wednesday. “Tencent intends to facilitate more payment scenarios by stages in the future, under the guidance of the relevant regulatory bodies and policies.”
Tencent first started to allow access to its payments platform for international credit card users last year. According to an official statement in January 2018, international travellers could link their Visa, Master and JCB credit cards to WeChat Pay. Overseas users previously would need mainland bank accounts registered with their passports and a mobile phone number to use WeChat Pay.
Tencent’s move comes as its rival payment service Alipay gave foreign visitors to the mainland access to its mobile payment platform from Tuesday under a program called “Tour Pass”, which allows visitors up to 90 days’ usage of its smartphone application without requiring a local bank account or mobile phone number.