The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, will allow Chinese payment platforms to raise the single transaction limit for foreign nationals using mobile payment services from USD1,000 to USD5,000 and the annual transaction limit from USD10,000 to USD50,000 amid efforts to improve the convenience for foreigners to use China's mobile payment services. Efforts will also be made to help foreign nationals link their overseas bank cards to domestic payment services more easily, simplifying the identity verification process, and bringing greater convenience, Zhang Qingsong, Deputy Governor of the PBOC said. “The PBOC will guide payment institutions to introduce a series of convenience measures to ensure that foreign friends are satisfied and willing to use China's mobile payment products, which have been quite popular among Chinese people,” Zhang said.
Weixin Pay, one of China's major payment platforms, has been optimizing payment services for foreign nationals since July 2023 by allowing overseas users to link international bank cards to it. It has recently optimized key areas for overseas users, including the registration process, payment activation process, small amount payment limit without authentication, and simplification of the user experience, the Global Times learned from Tencent, which owns Weixin Pay. For example, foreign users can directly add international bank cards to quickly activate the Weixin payment function. By linking an international card, first-time users of Weixin Pay from abroad can try Weixin Pay within a certain amount without verification. Weixin Pay's transactions made through international bank cards have maintained steady growth, with the accumulated transaction amount exceeding CNY1 billion and the total number of transactions exceeding 10 million by 2023, according to Tencent.
Ant Group, which operates the country's leading payment app Alipay, said it has already completed some of the cap lifting requirements and will complete the remainder in the near future, according to a statement sent by Ant Group to the Global Times. Ant Group will continue to improve its services by introducing more features tailored to foreign visitors traveling to China. This includes expanding coverage to more card organizations and overseas electronic wallets, and allowing more international tourists to use electronic wallets from home for scanning and payment in China. Ant Group's services for international travelers in China have continued to expand. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the average daily number of transactions made by overseas visitors on Alipay was nearly double that of the third quarter, and the daily transaction peak also reached new highs.
The move to optimize mobile payments for foreign nationals in China reflects the country's commitment to creating a more open and convenient business environment and shows China's commitment to financial opening-up, Wang Peng, Associate Researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
