Tencent’s all-in-one app will now charge a 0.1 per cent fee on mobile transfers over RMB 20,000 (US$3,155) to cover bank transaction fees
At Tencent’s annual Global Partner Summit in Chongqing last week, WeChat announced that it had 560 million active user logins by September, an increase of 64 per cent from last year.
To put this in perspective, WhatsApp’s CEO Jan Koum stated in September that its mobile messaging application has 900 million monthly active users.
However, WeChat is not just Tencent’s mobile messaging app, but an ecosystem offering a plethora of services, including video chat, games, taxi hailing, city, food delivery and secretary services and more. WhatsApp only rolled out its voice-calling feature in February.
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One of the most viable services is WeChat Wallet, which boasts 200 million users with an estimated 200,000 physical stores supporting the feature, including 25,000 supermarkets and 40,000 vending machines.
WeChat Wallet can be connected to most major banks, with cash from your bank account easily transferred into your online account.
From there, users can send money from one account to another, split dinner payments, use it to buy movie tickets, pay for the cab, or even sort out utilities bills.
Also Read: Banks should adopt mobile payment or risk becoming irrelevant: Forrester
However, users of WeChat Wallet may have something to grumble about: WeChat Wallet has just ended its free transfer policy for amounts over RMB 20,000 (US$3,155), a change made on October 17, 2015.
It is now charging a 0.1 per cent fee on monthly money transfers over the RMB 20,000 limit. Tencent will be charging the fee to cover bank transaction charges, Beijing-based media group Caixin reported.
Tencent launched the WeChat Wallet service, which enables mobile payment API access to verified service operators, last year.
Also Read: Infographic: Two charts to breakdown mobile payment platforms
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