As my country’s interactions with the world become increasingly closer, inbound travelers have higher expectations for a convenient and efficient domestic mobile payment experience.
With the joint efforts of all parties, interconnection in the field of cross-border payments is moving from vision to reality.
Against this background, the construction of the “Cross-border QR Code Unified Gateway” has attracted widespread attention. It aims to break down the barriers to domestic and overseas QR code payments and provide smoother payment services for overseas users coming to China.
The “Cross-border QR Code Unified Gateway” is a cross-border payment infrastructure led by the China Payment and Clearing Association under the guidance of the People’s Bank of China.
The gateway provides a “one-point docking” cooperation model for domestic and foreign institutions, covering multiple functions such as unified technical interfaces, cross-border transaction information transfer and distribution, and transaction monitoring and analysis.
Its emergence means that overseas e-wallets no longer need to connect to numerous domestic payment scenarios one by one, but can quickly connect with the domestic QR code payment network through this hub, thereby significantly lowering the threshold for cooperation and improving interconnection efficiency.
As an important participant in this process, Tonglian Pay relies on its deep cultivation in the cross-border business field and joins hands with WeChat Pay to contribute a key force to improve the convenience of payment for foreigners coming to China.
Under this structure, Tonglian Pay has also launched “outsourcing and internal use” services.
The so-called “outsourcing for internal use” means that after entering the country, overseas e-wallet users do not need to register additional domestic payment applications or change their original payment habits. They can directly use their familiar wallet APP to complete scan-code payments in China.
The cooperation between Tonglian Pay and WeChat Pay has accelerated the implementation of this model.
Inbound personnel holding cooperative overseas wallets, whether they actively scan the merchant’s QR code or present their own payment code for the merchant to scan, will gradually be fully supported, truly realizing a payment experience that is no different from that of domestic residents.
At present, there are many overseas wallet institutions including WeChat Hong Kong Dollar Wallet, PayPal, Venmo, Mongolia Hipay Wallet, Singapore LiquidPay Wallet, and Vietnam Zalopay Wallet, and plan to successively access the “Cross-border QR Code Unified Gateway”.
With the access of these overseas wallets, various domestic QR code payment scenarios will be open to inbound personnel holding these wallets, from bustling business districts and popular scenic spots to street restaurants and convenience stores.
This not only allows overseas users to experience the convenience of “smooth travel without worries”, but also brings a broader international customer flow to domestic merchants.
Tonglian Payment has been deeply involved in the field of cross-border payments for a long time, carrying out foreign card acceptance and upgrading in key cities, business districts and scenic spots, and actively exploring innovative applications such as “Mobile Camera Payment” and “Hainan Trusted Payment”, and working with all parties in the industry to improve the payment convenience for foreigners coming to China.
This participation in the construction of the “Cross-border QR Code Unified Gateway” and the launch of “outsourcing and internal use” services is another important practice of Tonglian Pay in building a multi-level and diversified payment service system.
As the visa-free policy continues to expand and the demand for inbound tourism, business, and study continues to increase, convenient payment experience is becoming an important part of foreigners’ “smooth” visit to China.
Facing the future, Tonglian Payment will continue to work with institutional partners to promote cooperation with more overseas wallet institutions to launch “outsourcing and internal use” services, which will not only provide foreigners with a better “Chinese experience”, but also help domestic merchants to explore a broader space in an increasingly open market environment.
