WeChat Pay Is Coming To Malaysia Next Year. Here's What You Need To Know

Reuters reported that Tencent, the company behind instant messaging app WeChat, has obtained an e-payment license for WeChat Pay to operate in Malaysia.

This follows Tencent’s announcement in July this year that it applied for a licence in Malaysia.

At the time of announcing the application for the license, Grace Yin, director of WeChat Pay explained that the choice of Malaysia as the first overseas market stemming from the fact that "Malaysia has a large Chinese community".

Tencent didn't reveal a clear timeline as to when the service will be launched next year.

Tencent's senior VP S.Y. Lau told Reuters that Tencent had chosen Malaysia because there are 20 million WeChat users and the local market is more welcoming towards Internet products from China.

Lau added that the company is "not in a hurry" to speed up the expansion process as there's still much to be done in China.

Hong Kong is currently the only location outside mainland China where WeChat Pay and Alipay offer the local payment service - for local transactions denominated in Hong Kong dollars.

Alipay has partnered with Maybank, CIMB, Genting, and Public Bank to introduce cashless payment via the e-wallet. According to local tech news site SoyaCincau, Alipay is currently available for tourists visiting from China only.

We reckon WeChat Pay will have a smoother roll-out process than its competitor as the service will be integrated into the WeChat messaging app. With 20 million users under its belt, the service will gain traction in no time.

Tencent has surpassed Facebook in terms of market value just a day after it became the first Asian technology firm to reach the USD500 billion valuation mark, CNN reported.