Alipay, WeChat Pay to open up their mobile wallet platforms to international card schemes

The move will help some of the more-than 30 million people who visit China annually and sometimes struggle to find alternate payment methods. Alipay and Tencent account for 94% of China’s mobile-payment market.

Both apps announced the plans in rapid succession after previously requiring users to have local accounts. As per its announcement, Alipay laid out a system that will work around current restrictions and can start immediately. Moreover, the company mentioned it is letting travellers use a prepaid card service provided by the Bank of Shanghai, which means that customers will have to periodically top off that account. The account will be limited in amount. WeChat Pay intends to let people more directly connect their existing cards to its app.