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Nets, WeChat Pay in talks to allow NetsPay users to make mobile payments in China: Sources

BEIJING — Singapore electronic payments provider Nets is in talks with Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay to allow users of its NetsPay digital wallet to make mobile payments in mainland China, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Singapore electronic payments provider Nets is in talks with Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay to allow users of its NetsPay digital wallet to make mobile payments in mainland China, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Singapore electronic payments provider Nets is in talks with Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay to allow users of its NetsPay digital wallet to make mobile payments in mainland China, according to people familiar with the discussions.

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BEIJING — Singapore electronic payments provider Nets is in talks with Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay to allow users of its NetsPay digital wallet to make mobile payments in mainland China, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The partnership will allow NetsPay users to scan QR codes in stores accepting WeChat Pay on the mainland and settle purchases in Singapore dollars, said the people, who declined to be named as the information is private.

Negotiations are still ongoing and a final deal has not yet been reached, they said.

Tencent did not immediately respond to queries. When contacted by TODAY, Nets said they are unable to comment.

If finalised, NetsPay will be the first third-party digital wallet to link with WeChat for cross-border payments in China.

This would be convenient for visitors to China because mobile payments have become so prevalent that the central bank had to issue a reminder to merchants not to refuse to accept cash.

Last month, Nets announced a partnership with Chinese financial services corporation UnionPay to accept the NetsPay mobile application at more than 7.5 million UnionPay QR code merchants and close to 12 million UnionPay QuickPass contactless points worldwide.

This means Singapore users are able to make payment via Nets when travelling overseas to countries such as Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand.

Cross-border payments using WeChat Pay are mostly used by Chinese tourists paying for their overseas purchases at merchants accepting overseas WeChat Pay in tourist destinations in South-east Asia, Europe and the US.

Tencent first experimented with mobile payments for inbound visitors to mainland China last month, when it announced that WeChat Pay Hong Kong users will be able to pay for purchases at selected retail merchants on the mainland and settle purchases in Hong Kong dollars.

At present, China’s dominant mobile payment services like WeChat Pay and Ant Financial Services' Alipay are primarily focused on getting overseas merchants to accept their respective payment services as a payment method to serve outbound Chinese tourists. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

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