Travellers can now use DBS PayLah! at over 100 million merchants across China

SINGAPORE: More than three million DBS PayLah! users can now make QR payments at over 100 million Alipay and Weixin Pay partner merchants across mainland China.

Users can either scan a merchant's QR code or present their own for the merchant to scan, DBS said on Thursday (Nov 12).

There will not be any additional transaction fees.

Before confirming a transaction, users can view the payment amount in Chinese yuan, the applicable foreign exchange rate and the amount in Singapore dollars.

Users will need to update their DBS PayLah! app to the latest version to access the new payment functions.

Together with its existing UnionPay QR connectivity, DBS said it is the first and only bank in Singapore to support QR payment methods across all three major QR payment ecosystems in China.

"Payments are key to discovering everything China has to offer, especially as customer interest in 'China-maxxing' continues to rise," said Calvin Ong, head of consumer banking group at DBS Singapore.

He added that the partnerships with Ant International and TenPay Global would give users flexibility when making payments in China, while allowing merchants to continue using their existing payment systems.

The expansion comes amid growing travel to China.

According to China's National Immigration Administration, foreign nationals made 11.6 million trips to the country between July and September. This is an increase of 15.6 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Singapore was among the top 10 source countries for foreign visitor arrivals during that period.

Last month, DBS PayLah! expanded its overseas QR payment network to Taiwan, allowing travellers to pay at more than 250,000 participating merchants.

In February, OCBC introduced a service allowing customers to scan and pay Weixin Pay merchant QR codes through the OCBC app, in addition to Alipay+ and UnionPay codes.

However, while OCBC customers can generate their own QR codes for Alipay+ and UnionPay payments, the option is not available for Weixin Pay transactions.