2023-06-28 07:55:33 ET
Chinese companies Tencent ( OTCPK:TCTZF ) ( OTCPK:TCEHY ) and Ant Group, an Alibaba ( NYSE: BABA ) ( OTCPK:BABAF ) affiliate, plan to allow users to link international credit cards to their platforms, Reuters reporetd.
The step should benefit foreign visitors as the nation's payment system has kept credit cards' use out for years.
WeChat WeChat Pay owner Tencent said that WeChat users overseas can link credit cards from Visa ( V ) to their WeChat app from next month. Foreign travellers could then pay with WeChat when traveling in mainland China, the report added.
Mastercard ( MA ) last week noted that cardholders can link credit or debit cards to Ant Group-owned Alipay digital wallet and could then pay like a local.
Payments via mobile apps became the main payment method in China since the late 2010s, however, Foreign travellers often find difficult to pay for products or services in the country where many shops and restaurants now only accept mobile payment rather than credit cards or cash.
Tencent and Ant had previously collaborated with Visa and Mastercard in 2019 to make foreign cards usable on their platforms. However, since the pandemic when China closed its borders and international travel declined in the country, such measures had taken a back seat, the report added two people with knowledge of the matter.
Ant and Tencent's 2019 collaborations with Vias and Mastercard already allowed some overseas people to use their credit cards in China but at that time only certain businesses were permitted to process international credit cards.
Now the companies are opening up their entire platform to foreign cards, enabling visitors to pay for several goods and services.
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Tencent, Ant boost efforts to add foreign credit cards on platform - report