The announcement came in Tokyo in July at the WeChat Pay Overseas Open Conference
Put simply, it is the payment feature of the WeChat social platform. It allows users to pay with the smartphones in a variety of different ways which include
It allows brick and mortar businesses to go digital with ease, allowing smooth online-to-offline commerce. It is very popular for P2P money transfer, as it allows users to easily send money to friends and family. In addition, WeChat Official accounts, used by businesses, allow merchants to easily accept payments. This is particularly useful considering the social aspect of WeChat, as consumers in China rely heavily on the opinions of their social circle to influence their buying decisions.
To find out more about how consumers are using WeChat Pay, click here.
Merchants outside of China can now apply to start accepting WeChat Pay. The setup process takes 7-15 working days, and WeChat has reduced requirements to integrate its payment services.
It is no coincidence that WeChat chose to make the announcement of it’s new crossborder platform in Tokyo. The number of Japanese merchants using WeChat has increased six-fold. In addition, WeChat processed 16x more payments from Japan in June 2017 than in January. WeChat allows tourists from China who are visiting Japan to pay in their local currency, CNY, without the hassle of currency conversion.
The foreign exchange side is handled by WeChat, and settled with the Japanese merchant in Yen, or their chosen currency. Once the customer has finished the transaction, the payment amount is assigned to WeChats partner settlement bank to be exchanged. WeChat buys the foreign currency in T+1 at a spot rate set by the partner bank. Once the merchants balance reaches 5000 USD, the funds are immediately transferred to their account.
Not only does WeChat support JPY, but it also allows settlements in HKD< USE, GBP, CAD, AUD, EUR, NZD and KRW, amongst others. In addition to payment services, WeChat allows merchants access to advertising services via Moments on their social platform, plus marketing & tech support.
