1. Malaysia will be the first country outside of China to receive WeChat Pay.
WeChat Pay is technically available for everyone across the globe, but Malaysia will be the first country to receive WeChat Pay in our local currency—the ringgit.
“Malaysia is actually quite large in the sense that we have 20 million WeChat users, huge potential, and the market is quite warm towards internet products from China,” said senior vice president SY Lau.
WeChat might have an advantage in the acquisition of users in Malaysia, but time will tell if this can translate to a lead in the region that sees AliPay operating for about 1 year now.
Payment methods that will become available in Malaysia include Quick Pay, where vendors can scan a QR code on a customer’s mobile phone once they’ve made a payment for a quick transaction. Or, users can scan a QR code set up by the vendors to see a product’s information or transaction guides.
WeChat also offers options for In-App Payment, where vendors can authorise WeChat to process payments when users make payments through other apps.
2. WeChat Pay Malaysia has been on beta for 2 years now.
Tencent Group has been beta testing an early run of the ringgit-enabled wallet for two years now, by selecting 10,000 Malaysian WeChat users.
Those selected get a dual version of the wallet—one for ringgit and one for RMB, though users at the time weren’t able to transfer currencies from one wallet to the other.
That being said, on the user’s side, WeChat Pay should be compatible with any credit or debit card, and WeChat has already enabled foreign credit cards to be tied to WeChat Pay accounts.
3. Local banks are already on WeChat Pay.
As early as November 2017, Hong Leong Bank has already enabled merchants to accept payments for WeChat Pay, in anticipation for the wallet’s launch in Malaysia.
When this collaboration was done, it was to ensure that Chinese tourists can continue using their WeChat accounts while visiting Malaysia, though once WeChat Pay launches for Malaysians, then there will already be a list of merchants that accept the e-wallet from day zero.
Now, we’re just waiting for WeChat Malaysia to finally announce when the rest of Malaysia will finally see WeChat Pay, as well as the full list of merchants that accepts payments through their e-wallet.
Once available, WeChat Pay’s wallet can be found in the “Me” tab of the normal WeChat app.
WeChat Pay Has Launched In M’sia, Here’s Everything We Know So Far