A customer pays his bill with WeChat Pay in Hong Kong. (WANG XI / XINHUA)
Hong Kong shoppers will be able to make purchases with WeChat Pay Hong Kong in Macao by March — providing further convenience for people living, working and traveling in the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area.
Internet titan Tencent announced on Monday it would expand cross-boundary mobile payments to Hong Kong and Macao. These will allow users to settle bills at thousands of shops in Macao with Hong Kong dollars through their Hong Kong version of the WeChat Pay Wallet.
To bring high-quality digital payment services to Hong Kong and Macao residents, Tencent will continue to explore opportunities with other organizations in future
Royal Chen Qiru,
vice-president of Tencent Financial Technology
To bring high-quality digital payment services to Hong Kong and Macao residents, Tencent will continue to explore opportunities with other organizations in future, said Royal Chen Qiru, vice-president of Tencent Financial Technology.
At the end of 2018, Tencent launched cross-boundary mobile payment services for Hong Kong residents to settle payments on the mainland with their Hong Kong version of WeChat Pay. This includes visiting restaurants, booking train tickets and hailing cars.
Continuing its efforts for a bigger market share in Hong Kong’s digital payment services, Tencent recently boosted cooperation with 7-Eleven Hong Kong, the largest convenience store group in the city which allows users to shop in over 900 7-Eleven Hong Kong convenience stores with WeChat Pay HK.
Tencent is one of the first licensed operators in Hong Kong which allow local users to settle their purchases on the mainland via a Hong Kong mobile payment wallet.
Chinese fin-tech firms such as Tencent and Alibaba have been taking on Hong Kong’s digital payment market to cater to consumers’ spending habits by launching e-wallet in accordance with local regulations.
Last year, the central government introduced 16 policy measures to facilitate the development of the Bay Area. This included supporting the use of mobile electronic payments by Hong Kong residents on the mainland.
In 2019, renminbi cross-boundary payments between nine cities in the Bay Area and the two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macao, increased 17.3 percent year-on-year reaching 2.32 trillion yuan, according to People’s Bank of China, Guangzhou branch.
