Visa, a global digital payments leader, and Tencent Financial Technology, the fintech arm of Tencent, have unveiled a strategic partnership at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2023, aiming to broaden Visa’s presence in the Chinese remittance market.
This collaboration focuses on enabling users of Weixin, Tencent’s social messaging platform, to receive inbound remittances directly into their digital wallets. The move is set to significantly amplify the reach of the Visa Direct network, targeting over one billion Weixin users in Mainland China. Digital wallets offer users a secure and convenient method for financial transactions, eliminating the need to share sensitive account or card details. Transactions can be seamlessly completed using just the recipient’s wallet ID or registered phone number.
Shirley Yu, Group General Manager at Visa Greater China, highlighted the substantial growth of digital wallets in cross-border transactions, citing a 48% surge in 2021, amounting to US$16 billion in cross-border transfers through digital wallets. The partnership with Tencent Financial Technology represents an extension of Visa’s collaborations with Thunes and TerraPay, enhancing the capabilities of Visa Direct. The platform now boasts a vast capacity of over 8.5 billion endpoints, encompassing more than 3 billion cards, 3 billion accounts, and 2.5 billion digital wallets.
Royal Chen, Vice President of Tencent Financial Technology, emphasized the collaborative nature of the partnership, stating that it not only opens Tencent’s ecosystem compliantly but also streamlines processes for partners, bridging the gap between diverse financial ecosystems. The goal is to simplify the remittance process, making it as straightforward as sending a message.
