The latest announcement means that Tencent and Ant want to allow visitors to make payments with different vendors in China.
Foreigners can now easily pay for goods and services in China as payment giants Tencent and Ant Group said users can directly link international credit cards to their platforms. Therefore, tourists can connect their pay via the two dominant mobile pay apps- Tencent’s WeChat Pay and Ant Group’s Alipay. Over the years, China’s payment system has kept credit cards out of use, and this has been affecting foreign visitors. The entire country shifted towards a cashless society, relying heavily on digital and mobile payments.
Since mobile apps became the primary means of payment in China in the late 2010s, the mobile payment network has become inaccessible to foreign tourists. Hence, non-China residents find it difficult to make payments in many shops and restaurants. Most of these outlets opt for mobile payments other than credit cards or cash. As a result, many foreigners in China resorted to opening bank accounts in China to access the predominant mobile payment networks owned by Tencent and Ant Group.
Tencent and Ant Group Allow Foreigners in China to Use International Credit Cards for Payments
On Wednesday, Tencent Holdings announced that WeChat users overseas could begin to link their Visa-issued credit cards to their WeChat app starting from July. Meanwhile, financial services company Mastercard (NYSE: MA) made a similar call last week. The company said its cardholders can add their credit or debit cards to Alipay digital wallets. Before the latest developments with Tencent and Ant, the Chinese companies partnered with Visa and Mastercard in 2019 to enable using foreign cards on their platforms.
People who know the matter stated that the initiatives were reversed as China closed its borders during the global health crisis, and international visits to the country saw a setback. The plans are gradually returning to shape as the East Asian government reopens its borders to foreigners this year.
Notably, the 2019 partnership only was accessible to some overseas users and selected businesses. At the time, tourists from Hong Kong, Macau, and other countries spent $131 billion in mainland China just before the coronavirus pandemic. In December 2022, records showed that the number of online payment users in China was over 911 million.
The latest announcement means that Tencent and Ant are expanding their horizons by allowing visitors to make payments with different vendors in China. Tencent commented:
“Our 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.”
Apart from foreigners who are largely impacted by China’s payment system, the elderly population, who are much less tech-savvy, are cut out as well.
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