Hong Leong customers can link their debit cards to WeChat’s e-wallet – WeChat Pay – and use it as alternative payment option.

WeChat, a social communication platform developed by China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd, introduced WeChat Pay earlier this week and HLB claims it’s one of the first banks in Malaysia to partner with the company.

The partnership makes Malaysia the first country outside of China and Hong Kong that allows WeChat users to make payments in the local currency.  

This development comes on top of HLB’s cross-border collaboration with Tencent in November last year that enables Chinese tourists to pay using their WeChat accounts when visiting Malaysia.

“When we took the step to become a merchant acquirer for WeChat Pay in Malaysia, we were not only looking to expand the payment ecosystem to enable our Malaysian merchants to cater to the Chinese tourists market,” said HLB group managing director and chief executive officer Domenic Fuda in a statement.

“We were also gearing up our merchant acquisition strategy to prepare for the day when WeChat Pay is available in the local currency, so that our customers and WeChat users in Malaysia are able to use this payment option with a large number of merchants already signed up for the WeChat Pay My facility,” he added.  

HLB customers can already pay for their transactions in Ringgit at WeChat’s own shops and platforms as well as third-party services such as Garena, Joox and for local telco mobile prepaid top-ups.

Soon customers would also be able to pay for their shopping, namely Giant, Resorts World Genting, MyNews and GSC, with more to come.

For more information www.hlb.com.my.