Visa, a world leader in digital payments, and Tencent Financial Technology, the fintech division of Tencent, a global internet company, announced today at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2023 that they are partnering to enable Weixin users to receive inbound remittance in their digital wallets. This partnership will extend the Visa Direct network to reach more than one billion Weixin users in the Mainland of China, one of the world’s largest inbound remittance markets.  

Digital wallets are amongst the fastest-growing financial instruments, with wallet users globally expected to exceed five billion by 2026. Digital wallets do not require consumers to share account or card details to receive funds; all that is required is the recipient’s wallet ID or registered phone number, making it extremely easy for consumers to perform financial transactions while enabling secure, seamless and reliable pay-outs for businesses, especially in cross-border use cases.

“Digital wallets as a receiving end point in cross-border transfers are growing rapidly. In 2021, cross-border transfers sent and received via digital wallets grew by 48 percent, reaching US$16 billion,” said Shirley Yu, Group General Manager at Visa Greater China. “Some of the world’s largest inbound remittance markets in the Asia Pacific region – including Greater China, India, the Philippines and Bangladesh - have the highest penetration of digital wallets, making wallets a critical receiving endpoint for cross-border remittance. Wallets are also a crucial conduit for greater financial inclusion to reach populations who may not have access to traditional banking services.”

The partnership between Visa and Tencent Financial Technology builds on Visa’s previously announced collaborations with Thunes and TerraPay, who have also implemented Visa Direct capabilities, and increases Visa Direct’s reach to a capacity of over 8.5 billion endpoints, including 3+ billion cards, 3+ billion accounts and 2.5+ billion digital wallets. Visa Direct provides a single point of access to billions of endpoints, helping transform global money movement by facilitating the delivery of funds to eligible cards, bank accounts and wallets around the world. 

"Our partnership with Visa is a significant step forward in fostering a new generation of global payment networks. By connecting with Visa Direct’s client network of financial institutions, we can now seamlessly connect customers from these institutions to Weixin users from Visa Direct eligible markets. The connection not only opens up Tencent’s own ecosystem while meeting compliance requirements, but also streamlines the work for our partners and bridges the gap between different financial ecosystems, making sending money as easy as sending a message. This synergy of specialized expertise and collaboration allows us to have the opportunity to create a new, open, diverse, and inclusive borderless payment network together,” said Royal Chen, Vice President of Tencent Financial Technology.

Tenpay Global, Tencent Financial Technology’s cross-border payment business, has already partnered with over 30 leading global remittance institutions, linking remittance users in more than 60 countries and territories with Weixin users. Tenpay Global’s innovative remittance solution enables global fintech institutions to connect with Weixin's open ecosystem by leveraging standard APIs and powerful global fund processing capabilities. Qualified Weixin users in the Mainland of China are now able to receive remittances from abroad, directly to their Weixin Wallet balance. 

Find out more about Visa Direct here and Tenpay Global here.