The interconnectivity in the payment field has once again made significant progress. On May 21st, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily learned that JD Pay and WeChat Pay have achieved interconnectivity, and China Mobile's "Hebao App", China Telecom's "Yi Payment App", and China Unicom's "Wo Wallet App" have also completed interconnectivity with WeChat Pay in terms of merchant codes.
This also means that current consumers can directly scan the WeChat payment code for payment and consumption using the corresponding wallet related app. In the view of analysts, the new progress in interconnectivity between WeChat Pay and JD Pay, as well as the wallet apps under the three major operators, has further expanded the achievements of interconnectivity in the payment industry. It is expected that more payment institutions will accelerate the process of interconnectivity in the future, and more platform based institutions will join the camp of open payment scenarios.
Further interconnection and interoperability
Users choose to pay more yuan
After JD Pay's official announcement, the collaboration between JD Pay and WeChat Pay has become a hot topic. According to JD Pay, JD Pay and WeChat Pay have achieved interconnectivity. This interconnectivity is carried out through JD Financial App, where consumers can scan WeChat payment codes for payment and consumption.
At the level of merchant code interoperability, JD Pay has already piloted it in some merchants and will gradually open up for interoperability. The implementation of this interconnection aims to provide users with more diverse payment options without adding code plates, changing the platform's payment function.
In addition to JD Pay, the wallet apps under the three major operators also achieve interconnection and interoperability of commercial payment codes with WeChat Pay. The Beijing Business Daily reporter learned that the "Hebao App", "Yi Payment App", and "Wo Wallet App" have successively achieved WeChat payment personal code interoperability in 2023, and the connection of merchant payment codes this time is seen as another new progress in interoperability.
In the past few years, the interconnectivity work in the payment industry has continued to advance, and top payment institutions have successively achieved interconnectivity with banks, UnionPay cloud flash payment apps, and others. For example, WeChat payment and Alipay will achieve code scanning and mutual recognition with UnionPay Cloud Flash App in 2021. Through UnionPay Cloud Flash App, WeChat payment and Alipay also showed an "ice breaking" trend, and topics such as "Taobao internal WeChat payment" have been popular on microblog for many times.
In the view of Yang Tao, Director of the Payment and Clearing Research Center at the Institute of Finance of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, both JD.com and WeChat Pay have a huge active user base. Strategic cooperation between the two platforms will further demonstrate the demonstration effect of interconnectivity, promote industry reform and achieve win-win results. At the same time, this move is beneficial for optimizing industry order and enhancing the economies of scale of payment services.
Su Xiaorui, Senior Researcher at Suxi Zhiyan, stated that the new progress in interconnectivity between WeChat Pay and JD Pay, as well as the wallet apps under the three major operators, has further expanded the achievements of interconnectivity in the payment industry, reflecting that large platform enterprises are continuously moving towards the path of compliant operation and fair competition, transmitting a positive signal of interconnectivity and cooperation.
Accelerate merchant code connection
Multiple benefits for merchants, institutions, and consumers
Compared to previous interconnectivity actions, the interconnectivity between WeChat Pay and JD Pay, as well as the wallet apps under the three major operators, has received more attention due to the involvement of merchant codes.
For the interconnection of merchant codes this time, Beijing Business Daily reporters conducted actual tests using JD Financial App as an example. After completing the registration and login of JD Financial App, users can click on the "Scan" function in the upper right corner of the homepage to scan the WeChat personal and merchant payment codes for payment. The payment methods include "wallet balance" and any selection of bound bank cards.
At the top of the corresponding scan code page, there is also a prompt saying "Scan WeChat payment code, reduce payment every day". Click the prompt to enter the activity page. The Beijing Business Daily reporter learned from JD Pay that users can also enter the activity page by searching for "QR code payment discounts" on the JD Financial App. They can use the QR code scanning function on the activity page to make payments. Both methods can participate in the payment reduction activity, with a maximum reduction of 30 yuan. At the same time, users can also receive cash subsidies up to 288 yuan by adding desktops, completing payments, and sharing friends.
Some analysts believe that the integration of merchant codes involves multiple transaction entities such as merchants and individuals, covering more complex financial transactions such as receipts and refunds, and requires joint debugging, testing, and repeated verification from multiple parties. Wang Pengbo, Chief Analyst of Broadcom Consulting, pointed out that the cooperation between JD Pay, the three major operators, and WeChat Pay in terms of connectivity depth can be seen as one of the iconic nodes in the payment industry's promotion of connectivity. Compared to the exchange of personal payment codes, the exchange of merchant codes is the result of multiple benefits, including individual businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises, consumers, WeChat, and JD Pay. It also serves as a demonstration for the interconnection and exchange between payment institutions, especially large platforms, in the future.
"For JD Pay and the three major operators, achieving merchant code interoperability not only saves the cost of deploying their own equipment and promoting merchants, but also extends their business reach to offline merchants again, indirectly achieving the goal of 'walking on two legs' between online and offline," Wang Pengbo added.
Su Xiaorui believes that the acceleration of interconnectivity from personal payment codes to merchant payment codes can not only provide more convenience for consumers to scan codes, improve payment experience, but also promote and drive the growth of various merchant transactions.
However, this is not the first time that WeChat Pay has opened up the exchange of merchant payment codes. In November 2021, the WeChat Mini Program Payment Self service activated the cloud flash payment function, which was officially launched. Merchants can activate the "cloud flash payment to merchants" function on the WeChat Pay Merchant Platform. WeChat Pay supports users to make payments to merchants that have already been activated through cloud flash payment.
According to confirmation from the Beijing Business Daily reporter, in addition to the recent merchant code exchange with JD Pay and the wallet app under the three major operators, WeChat Pay has supported nearly 30 banks including Industrial, Agricultural, China, Construction, Transportation, Postal Savings, as well as cloud flash payment to achieve code payment interconnection. Users can complete payment by scanning the WeChat payment receipt code using the aforementioned institutional app, which also includes the merchant's receipt code. At the same time, WeChat Pay merchant payment codes and business payment codes have been fully opened in the pilot areas of digital RMB. Users can use the digital RMB app to scan codes and make payments directly using digital RMB.
More payment institutions are expected to join
Still need to do a good job in risk management and control
At the regular policy briefing held by the State Council Information Office at the end of 2023, Zhang Qingsong, Vice President of the People's Bank of China, introduced that China's mobile payment penetration rate has reached 86%, ranking first in the world. As of the end of 2023, the total number of transactions processed by domestic banks and non bank payment institutions exceeded 1.4 trillion, with a payment amount of nearly 90 billion yuan.
With the rapid development of mobile payments, breaking down the barriers to barcode payment services has become necessary. Earlier, in the "FinTech Development Plan (2019-2021)" issued by the People's Bank of China in 2019, it was explicitly proposed to promote the interconnection of barcode payments, research and develop barcode payment interconnection technology standards, unify barcode payment coding rules, build a barcode payment interconnection technology system, and achieve mutual recognition and scanning of barcode identification between different apps and merchants.
Beijing Business Daily reporters interviewed WeChat Pay, JD Pay, and other related parties regarding the main reasons for promoting interconnectivity this time and future plans for interconnectivity. Among them, the relevant person in charge of JD Pay pointed out that this interconnection focuses on small and convenient services, forming a comprehensive interconnection covering WeChat personal codes and merchant codes, which will promote the continued adjustment and optimization of the industry structure, help promote fair competition in the market, and create a better industry pattern.
Wang Pengbo bluntly stated that interconnectivity has brought more opportunities for payment platforms to participate in digital transformation. Payment platforms can leverage their channels with each other, integrate more external resources, scenarios, and service providers, create a more decentralized open platform, and work together to provide corresponding products, services, and traffic support for merchants in need, helping merchants in their digital upgrading process.
In terms of the difficulties and subsequent development of interconnectivity, Wang Pengbo reminds that on the one hand, attention should be paid to the issue of profit sharing between different institutions after interconnectivity. On the other hand, with the acceleration of merchant code interoperability, different entities such as merchants and users are involved, and risk control and technical requirements become more complex. Therefore, continuous technological improvement and connectivity are necessary for interconnection, and risk management should be done well.
Su Xiaorui pointed out that although payment interconnectivity faces many practical challenges, such as technical interconnectivity and security risk prevention, once implemented, it will effectively drive the standardized development of the industry. It is expected that more payment institutions will join the process of promoting payment interconnectivity in the future, and more platform based institutions will join the open camp of payment scenarios to jointly contribute to the improvement of digital infrastructure.