Chinese super app WeChat has rolled out an update to users in its home market that adds QR payment compatibility with five other Asian countries. This means that Chinese tourists can now use the app to make payments in said countries without needing to switch apps. The list includes Malaysia, as well as Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
As Shanghai-based City News Service reports, WeChat announced earlier in the week that its users can use the app in the aforementioned countries. More specifically, the app will be compatible with Malaysia’s DuitNow QR, Singapore’s SGQR+, Thailand’s PromptPay, Sri Lanka’s LANKAQR, and South Korea’s ZeroPay.
Worth emphasising though is that this change only benefits the Chinese version of the WeChat app and its Pay component. Our local version of the feature is, depending on interpretation, either discontinued or lives on as Weixin Pay. But for what it’s worth, it’s a benefit for incoming Chinese tourists as they can do what they usually do via a familiar app. The report also mentions the user experience as being very familiar, so there’s that.
Previously, CIMB announced that it was working with Weixin Pay for what was called the Weixin Mini Program. This, too, was a feature that’s for the benefit of Chinese tourists rather than Malaysian users. The partnership is meant to emphasise the visibility of local merchants to said tourists, plus also the seamless cross-border interaction. But with this update to the Chinese version of that app, that latter half seems to have gotten a much broader application.
(Source: City News Service)
