“This partnership means that we’ll be working towards an environment where Visa cardholders will be able to use their Visa card in China at the millions of places where WeChat Pay is accepted, instead of having to rely on cash,” Visa said in a statement referencing the WeChat Pay deal. 7 through a partnership with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Global Network and JCB that provides direct support for payments, without the need to purchase a virtual card. The South China Morning Post reported last week that the service will allow visitors to use an international version of their app by purchasing a virtual prepaid card from the Bank of Shanghai using their existing Visa, Mastercard, JCB or Diners Club cards. 5 a 90-day “tour pass” program for short-term visitors to be able to pay for some purchases using the service. is scarce.Īlipay was the first to jump earlier in the week, unveiling on Nov. Acceptance of western cards from Visa Inc. Although cash is still accepted in most places, there is a move against accepting cash in the country with certain purchases - ticket vending machines in particular but also some online services and bike-sharing services that only accept mobile payments. The problem for visitors to China, at least until now, is that using Alipay or WeChat Pay required a Chinese bank account. While those in the west talk up paying for coffee in Starbucks using a service like Apple Pay, China is on a completely different planet: Everybody accepts mobile payments, even buskers in remote towns in Sichuan (pictured).
In China, mobile payments have become ubiquitous with AliPay and WeChat Pay, respectively holding a 54% and 39% share of the market in China. As of the end of 2018, 83% of all transactions in China were mobile, possibly higher again today. China’s two largest mobile payment providers, Alipay and WeChat Pay, have announced support for western cards, opening up both services to visitors to the Middle Kingdom in a possible sign of further global expansion.
0 kommentar(er)
