DBS PayLah! Opens China Payments at 100 Million Merchants
DBS said on November 12 that more than three million DBS PayLah! users can now pay by QR code at over 100 million Alipay and Weixin Pay merchants in mainland China, with no extra transaction fees. The bank says it is the first in Singapore to cover all three major Chinese QR systems.
More than three million DBS PayLah! users in Singapore can now make QR payments at over 100 million Alipay and Weixin Pay partner merchants across mainland China, DBS said on Thursday, November 12. The DBS PayLah! China rollout adds to a growing list of Singapore banks courting travelers heading to China.
Users can scan a merchant's QR code. They can also present their own code for the merchant to scan.
DBS said there will be no additional transaction fees.
How the payments work
Before confirming a payment, users can see the amount in Chinese yuan, the applicable foreign exchange rate and the equivalent in Singapore dollars. Customers must update the DBS PayLah! app to the latest version to use the new functions.
The bank said it already supports UnionPay QR payments. With the new links, it says it is the first and only bank in Singapore to support QR payment methods across all three major QR payment ecosystems in China.
Calvin Ong, head of consumer banking group at DBS Singapore, tied the move to rising interest in travel to China. "Payments are key to discovering everything China has to offer, especially as customer interest in 'China-maxxing' continues to rise," he said.
He added that the partnerships with Ant International and TenPay Global would give users flexibility when paying in China. Merchants can keep using their existing payment systems.
Travel to China is climbing
China's National Immigration Administration reported that foreign nationals made 11.6 million trips to the country between July and September. That is up 15.6 per cent from the same period a year earlier. Singapore ranked among the top 10 source countries for foreign visitor arrivals in that period.
DBS has been widening its overseas QR network. Last month, DBS PayLah! added Taiwan, letting travelers pay at more than 250,000 participating merchants there.
How OCBC compares
Rival lender OCBC introduced a service in February that lets customers scan and pay Weixin Pay merchant QR codes through the OCBC app. It sits alongside the bank's existing Alipay+ and UnionPay codes.
There is a gap, however. OCBC customers can generate their own QR codes for Alipay+ and UnionPay payments, but not for Weixin Pay transactions.
