You bring all your documents (passport, visa page or visa application form, temporary residence permit) to any bank branch, and they’ll open an account for you. If you have such a residence permit/visa though, then it’s pretty straightforward. This can only be created in China, and as a foreigner, you need to be on a student visa, a work visa, or any other kind of long term residence permit to open an account. with BOC in Singapore).įor Alipay / WeChat Pay, you’ll need an onshore account. So there is a difference between an onshore account created in China, and an offshore account that you may create with a China bank overseas (eg. Unfortunately, because of the way China’s capital controls work, RMB is not a freely transferrable currency. The next and most important thing that you’ll need is a China bank account, with a China debit card (called 银行卡). Step 2 – Get an Onshore China Bank Account You’ll need a China Mobile Number to open a bank account and to register for Alipay / WeChat Pay, so there’s no skipping this step. They’ll need to verify your passport and take a photo of you for facial recognition, and it takes about 10 minutes tops. This one isn’t so hard, you just pop into any telecom store (the big ones are China Mobile and China Unicom), and you ask to buy a SIM Card (手机卡). The first thing you’ll need to do is to get a China mobile number. How to use or setup Alipay / WeChat Pay as a foreigner in China? Step 1 – Get a China Mobile Number It sounds deceptively simple, but it’s incredibly powerful to be the guy controlling that payment gateway. Alipay / WeChat Pay sits between your bank account and the merchant you’re paying, and it processes that transaction. The easiest way to think about it as a foreigner, is that Alipay / WeChat Pay is the equivalent of Visa, Mastercard or American Express in China. Compare that to where China was a mere 5 years ago, and you’ll start to appreciate how quick the development in this country has been. In China, it’s really all Alipay / WeChat Pay, and if you ask to use cash, you’re just going to get a blank stare.Ĭase in point, the first taxi ride I took from the airport to my accommodation, I asked to pay in cash, and after a short moment of stunned silence the taxi driver replied that he had no spare change for my notes. In Singapore, we are familiar with our Visa and Mastercard, and if that fails, we can always fall back to use good old fashioned cash. And one thing that has always mystified me about China is Alipay and WeChat Pay. He said the e-CNY’s “acquiring environment” remains a work in progress and is a primary factor holding back a full-scale launch, along with issues related to completing the risk-management and regulatory frameworks.Ī McKinsey report in October pointed to e-CNY as an example of how official central-bank-issued digital currencies “have been met with only moderate adoption.” While the trials show that the e-CNY actually works, the McKinsey report said, they compare with more than two billion monthly active users reported by WeChat Pay and Alipay.For those who missed it, Financial Horse is currently based in China. Speaking at a November conference, Mu Changchun, who runs the e-CNY project at the People’s Bank of China, appeared to acknowledge the demand challenge. The e-CNY wasn’t a payment option on sites run by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which in 11 days racked up sales of nearly $85 billion, or 8.5 times the amount of digital yuan transacted over 18 months of trials. The company said 100,000 customers used e-CNY in 240,000 orders but declined to say how much of the total $55 billion spent during the sales period it constituted it was likely a fractional portion. made it a payment option during the event as part of a plan to encourage adoption of digital wallets. Pointedly, China’s annual online shopping extravaganza in November, known as Singles Day, featured only limited promotion of e-CNY, a currency designed for the internet. Based on central-bank numbers, the average amount spent per transaction was under $1. Giveaways aren’t nationwide they have been run in particular cities on specific dates and so far have left out small towns and rural areas. “Primarily, e-CNY has been distributed in free-to-enter lottery-type promotions and through discount deals designed to encourage downloads of the central bank’s app and digital wallets. I’m sure a majority of participants in the payments ecosystem hope this remains true: There is also interest in how quickly consumers might adopt digital money, but given the poor consumer adoption reported here, perhaps the payment tools consumers use today are sufficient. The primary concern among world leaders is its potential impact in world trade. The world is anxiously watching China’s digital yuan to learn how quickly a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be adopted.
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