[ UPDATE ] Here’s how to use Touch ‘n Go eWallet in mainland China.
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As announced late last year, Touch ‘n Go eWallet is the first Malaysian-based eWallet accepted in Mainland China. This is made possible through the Alipay+ network which also covers other Asian eWallet partners from Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand. If you’re going to visit China soon, you’ll be happy to know that Touch ‘n Go eWallet is now accepted by over 10 million Alipay merchants in China.
To recap, Alipay+ is a cross-border digital payment platform and it is different from Alipay which is a major eWallet used in Mainland China. As of November 2022, there were over 2.5 million Alipay+ merchants while Alipay has over 80 million merchants worldwide.
Most merchants including convenience stores in China have gone cashless and a majority of them only accept Alipay or WeChat Pay. Credit and debit card acceptance in China is quite low and are limited to mostly international retail chains. Typically, these eWallets require users to have a China-issued card or bank account in order to get a CNY-based wallet.
Prior to this, foreigners travelling to China are able to sign up for a TourPass on Alipay which creates a virtual local prepaid card that can be reloaded using an international credit or debit card. At the time of writing, Alipay has discontinued its TourPass offering.
10 million Alipay merchants in China can now accept Alipay+ QR code
According to TNG Digital CEO Alan Ni, Malaysians can now really go cashless in China like a local as over 10 million Alipay merchants can now accept the Alipay+ QR code from your TNG eWallet. This is good news as you won’t need a separate app and just ensure that you have sufficient balance in your TNG eWallet. However, there are some limitations as some smaller merchants in China could be using their personal QR codes to accept payments and the Alipay+ QR code may not be accepted by old legacy Alipay merchants.
At the moment, Alipay+ payments via Touch ‘n Go eWallet do not support P2P transfers. Non-merchant QR codes are currently not supported by foreign wallets due to regulatory restrictions.
How to use Touch ‘n Go eWallet in Mainland China?
To use your Touch ‘n Go eWallet in China, just tap on Pay and then swipe up to show your AliPay+ QR code as shown above. Then select Mainland China and show your QR code to the Alipay merchant. The Touch ‘n Go eWallet app will display the current foreign exchange rate when the QR code is displayed.
After completing your Alipay+ transaction, you can view your transaction history which will display both currencies as well as the exchange rate.
In case you missed it, Malaysia’s BNM and Singapore’s MAS have launched a cross-border QR payment which allows users from both countries to scan each other’s national QR code. Users of Malaysian-based eWallets and online banking apps can scan Singapore’s NETS QR code while Singaporean banking app users can scan Malaysia’s DuitNow QR. At the moment, only merchant-based payments are supported while P2P eWallet to eWallet transfers is expected to be supported later this year.
Have you used Alipay+ in China? Do let us know your experience in the comments below.
