Tencent’s WeChat Pay to allow Hong Kong users to pay for purchases on the mainland

Shoppers will soon be able to use the Hong Kong version of the WeChat Pay mobile payment app to pay for purchases at mainland merchants, making it the first Chinese company to let users settle bills on the mainland via Hong Kong dollar.

Tencent Holdings, which operates the Hong Kong version of WeChat Pay, will partner China UnionPay and its subsidiary UnionPay International to let users settle the bill for their purchases on the mainland in Hong Kong dollars, starting from October, according to a statement from the company.

Vendors such as Didi Chuxing, Meituan-Dianping and railway ticketing platform 12306.cn will accept payments made via WeChat Pay HK. Purchases will be converted from yuan to Hong Kong dollars automatically within the app, where exchange rate quotes and automatic exchange services will be available.

“The cross-border mobile payment will greatly increase the collaboration opportunities for both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese businesses,” said Jim Lai, president of Tencent and head of the company’s fintech arm Tencent Financial Technology, in the statement. “This exchange of culture, talent and the stimulation of economic activity across a wide variety of sectors will serve to strengthen the mutual relationships between Hong Kong and mainland China.”

WeChat Pay HK, as the Hong Kong wallet is known, was previously only available locally in the city and was not accepted as a form of payment by mainland merchants as the payment systems used are different in each jurisdiction and not interoperable.

“The People’s Bank of China supports the development of regulated cross-border payment and healthy competition in the industry,” Wen Xinxiang, secretary-general of the central bank’s monetary policy committee, said at the WeChat press event in Shenzhen on Wednesday.