Beijing : Chinese payments giants Alipay and WeChat Pay said they’re planning to open up their platforms to foreigners visiting the mainland.
The apps, which dominate payments across the country and at some businesses have even supplanted cash, required users have local accounts, partly because of regulatory concerns about money laundering and cross-border cash flows. Opening up to visitors may give an incremental boost to spending on the platforms – but for overseas firms, it has big implications, potentially helping pave the way for future adoption abroad.
Already, Alipay and WeChat Pay’s logos are visible in stores and taxis in major cities around the world as the firms focus on helping Chinese travellers there. The expectation across the industry is that the apps will someday use that infrastructure to attract locals in those destinations.
To be sure, the ability to work with credit cards is still pending. In its announcement, Ant Financial’s Alipay laid out a system that will work around current restrictions and can start immediately.