Alipay now open to foreigners
(6 November 2019 - China) International visitors to mainland China can now download a version of the Alipay app to pay for goods using QR codes according to a media release from Ant Financial.
Travelers can now use Alipay’s ‘Tour Pass’ program allowing them to use a prepaid card service from the Bank of Shanghai. Visitors can top up the card in Chinese yuan via their usual credit or debit card. Until now, visitors were locked out of the systems which required a local phone number and Chinese bank account.
Tencent is also working with scheme networks such as Visa and MasterCard to connect them to WeChat Pay, enabling tourists in China better access to the country’s cashless systems. Alipay handled US$3.8 trillion of transactions in Q4 2018 according to China Internet Watch, compared with US$2.7 trillion for Tencent’s WeChat Pay.
Limited foreign access to Alipay and WeChat Pay could unsettle up the competitive dynamic with Visa and Mastercard, the US card-network leaders out of favour with the Chinese government. If tourists and business travelers can access the Alipay terminals as if they were locals it reduces the rationale for Visa and MasterCard to push for more widespread acceptance of international payment cards on behalf of their customers.
“The launch of this new service will improve the experience of foreign visitors to China, as the app could be used in so many scenarios,” said Chanson & Co Director Shen Meng.
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