Cross-border payments plan widens
As reported by CNBC, citing Tencent and Visa in a joint announcement on Thursday, the companies are expanding their cooperation in cross-border payments and AI-powered commerce after recent approvals for U.S. financial firms to broaden operations in China.
Under a memorandum of understanding, the two companies will explore ways to simplify payments for travelers entering and leaving China while broadening their existing cross-border remittance partnership. They also plan to develop payment tools allowing travelers to pay participating merchants through Tencent’s Weixin Pay and Visa networks, subject to regulatory requirements.
The companies are also seeking to extend collaboration through Visa Direct, Visa’s money transfer service, to make it easier for overseas users to send funds into the Weixin Pay ecosystem. Dowson Tong, Tencent’s senior executive vice president and CEO of its Cloud and Smart Industries Group, said the tie-up combines Tencent’s AI capabilities with Visa’s global network to improve cross-border payments and create new opportunities for businesses in China and overseas.
Financial opening supports foreign expansion
The partnership also covers agentic commerce, an emerging area of online shopping in which AI agents help consumers find, select and buy products or services. The latest agreement deepens a relationship that dates back at least to 2019, when Visa said international cardholders would be able to make payments through WeChat Pay in China.
The announcement comes after Visa received approval from the People’s Bank of China earlier this month to begin preparations for a domestic bank card clearing business, a step that brings the company closer to entering China’s domestic payments market after more than four decades in the country. Citi also said last week that it received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to establish a wholly owned securities company in China, with services to include equities brokerage, securities underwriting, research and principal trading.
Tencent has also been widening ties with other global payments companies. In December last year, Mastercard and Tencent’s international payments platform Midas announced a collaboration to integrate Mastercard’s Click to Pay and payment security technologies into Midas’ overseas payment solutions, as Beijing continues to open parts of its financial sector to foreign companies.
In our earlier article on SEON’s expansion in the Philippines, we explained how the fraud-prevention firm is using a partnership with Exist Software Labs to deepen its reach beyond fintech into traditional banks, remittance providers, and payments-related businesses. We also noted that as digital payments and remittances grow under tighter regulatory expectations, demand is rising for stronger risk management and fraud controls across payment channels.
Source: Tradersunion