Chinese tourists visiting Sri Lanka now have the added benefit of purchasing goods and services and paying for them through ‘WeChat Pay’ – one of the leading mobile payment solutions in China, consequent to a partnership between the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC and Tenpay Payment Technology Ltd.
This mobile app solution has been brought to the Sri Lankan market by Commercial Bank in partnership with Wells Digital Infrastructure (Pvt) Ltd., and SwiftPass Technologies Co. Ltd., an electronic payments solutions provider which facilitates Commercial Bank’s acquiring of ‘WeChat Pay’ transactions in Sri Lanka.
The ‘WeChat Pay’ channel will be made available through a special Point of Sale (POS) device that will be provided to merchants who attract Chinese clientele in Sri Lanka, the Bank said.
Commercial Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, S. Renganathan said, “Commercial Bank always strives to keep with the times and provides the most relevant services that meet the needs of the hour. As the country attracts many Chinese tourists, the Bank believes this solution will not only increase the convenience factor for them, but also enable Chinese travelers to use a payment option they are familiar with.”
After the POS device is in place, visiting customers can choose multiple ‘WeChat Pay’payment methods to make payments through QR codes. This solution also enables them to view the value of their purchases and pay for them in Yuan or any major currency of their choice, without losing out on currency conversion rates, a Bank spokesman said.
‘WeChat’ is a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. It was first released in 2011, and by 2018 was one of the world’s largest standalone mobile apps with over 1,040 million monthly active users and 600 million monthly active ‘WeChat Pay’ users, specifically.