12/27/2023 0 Comments Wechat payment works for chinaThe Chinese app was also the second most popular method to collect the first consumption voucher, following the Octopus card, according to Hong Kong’s finance chief Paul Chan. Photo: GovHK.Īlipay HK has been expanding its services since it started providing payment services on the MTR, bus, and minibus services in 2021, the same year the first consumption voucher was announced.Īlipay HK’s user base grew by over 150 per cent after the service expansion, and Venetia Lee, its chief executive, said the number of small-and-medium-sized merchants that accept Alipay HK payment increased by 230 per cent over the past two years. “I know a lot people were saying that we shouldn’t use Chinese apps, but I was tight on money back then, and all I could think about was how to spend my handout in the best way possible – the answer was to collect it with Alipay,” she said, adding that the app was accepted by most businesses, and had fewer restrictions compared to the Octopus card. “I have friends who protested during 2019 and used to be reluctant to use Taobao, but they began using Alipay,” Ma, who works in the fashion industry, told HKFP. The battle for popularity among Hong Kong’s payment apps has not always been a foregone conclusion.Īs a young pro-democracy Hongkonger, 24-year-old Stephanie Ma made a rare decision among her peers – opting for Alipay HK as the tool to collect her consumption vouchers. No information regarding business coverage has been disclosed by the other payment apps. It currently covers over 150,000 merchants across Hong Kong, while Tap & Go’s website states that it covers approximately 100,000 merchants. WeChat Pay HK said it had experienced significant growth since becoming one of the selected payment tools for consumption vouchers, with an annual increase of 30 per cent in commercial transactions. (From left) Acting Government Chief Information Officer Tony Wong, Financial Secretary Paul Chan, and the Head (Policy Co-ordination) of the Financial Secretary’s Private Office Howard Lee meeting the press on Mato announce details of the 2023 consumption voucher scheme. As of February, Alipay HK claimed to cover 90 percent of Hong Kong shops, according to Liang Yijian, head of Ant Financial Services’ international business in Hong Kong. In contrast, Alipay HK and WeChat Pay HK have fully developed user-to-user and user-to-merchant payment services, and have prevailed in terms of the number of merchants. Seeing much slower growth in the number of users, they pose little threat to the dominance of the Chinese payment tools. With two more rounds of consumption vouchers released in 20, two more payment tools – Bank of China’s BoC Pay and HSBC’s PayMe – were added to the list. However, the local payment method had only garnered around 3.6 million users in 2022, as stated it its annual results announcement. Instead of offering QR code payment services like Alipay HK and WeChat Pay HK, Tap & Go can be used as a virtual debit card that supports contactless transactions. The main rival to Alipay HK and WeChat Pay HK is the local digital wallet Tap & Go developed by Hong Kong Telecom, one of the largest local telecommunications companies in the city, in 2015. This means that approximately 67 per cent of residents have signed up for these platforms, although some users may be double-registered or tourists.Ī sign at a jewellery store stating that consumption vouchers can be used for purchase. Tencent’s WeChat Pay HK, launched in 2018, is the electronic wallet for Hong Kong users of Chinese instant messenger app WeChat, and it supports cross-border transactions between Hong Kong and the mainland.Īs of 20, Alipay HK and WeChat Pay HK have each accumulated five million registered users, according to Alipay HK and a Tencent spokesperson. For Hong Kong customers who do not have a bank account in mainland China, it is the only way to pay for goods on Taobao, China’s biggest online shopping platform. It required Hong Kong residents to collect their handouts using four designated e-payment platforms: Alipay HK, WeChat Pay HK, Tap & Go and Octopus card.Īlipay HK, which is a subsidiary of mainland Chinese multinational Alibaba Group’s Alipay, was established in 2017 and later held by affiliate company Ant Group. The Hong Kong government rolled out the first round of consumption vouchers – HK$5,000 for each eligible resident – to boost the local economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. HKFP delved into the public data released by the companies, while speaking to young Hongkongers about their views on the apps, to find out how these Chinese platforms managed to succeed in a city where businesses with ties across the border were once boycotted by pro-democracy protesters. How China's Alipay and WeChat Pay became the most popular e-payment apps in Hong Kong - Hong Kong Free Press HKFP Close
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