‘WeChat Pay’ acceptance launched in Sri Lanka for the first time by Commercial Bank

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 is brought to the Sri Lankan market by Commercial Bank in partnership with   Wells Digital Infrastructure (Pvt) Ltd., and SwiftPass Technologies Co. Ltd., a leading 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.

Commenting on the acquisition of the legal rights to ‘WeChat Pay’ in Sri Lanka, Commercial Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. S. Renganathan said: “Commercial Bank always strives to keep with the times and provide 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 travellers to use a payment option they are familiar with.”

Interested merchants can request the Bank to provide them with the special POS device. Once this 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, the Bank explained.

‘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 1040 million monthly active users and 600 million monthly active ‘WeChat Pay’ users, specifically. ‘WeChat Pay’ also sees 600 million daily transactions effected through its system.

The only Sri Lankan Bank to be ranked among the world’s top 1000 banks for eight years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 266 branches and 830 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank has won multiple international and local awards in 2016 and 2017 and 20 international awards in the first eight months of 2018.

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon and a Microfinance company in Nay PyiTaw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.