Thai, Chinese firms join for WeChat Pay
Asset Bright Company, which is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, yesterday announced a partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant Tencent Group to provide WeChat Pay facility to capture Chinese tourist spending in Thailand.
Porameth Rungrongtanin, chief executive officer of Asset Bright, said yesterday that the payment service was expected to start in the fourth quarter, after it is approved by the Bank of Thailand (BOT).
Tescent and Asset Bright had submitted additional documents to the BOT.
He said the company targeted between 3,000 and 5,000 local vendors to apply for membership for the service.
Merchants interested in receiving money from this payment service need a bank account and must contact Asset Bright to have their identity verified.
This payment system is similar to one used for credit cards, with merchants receiving the money the next day.
“We are targeting Chinese tourists in Thailand, as WeChat is the most popular mobile application for Chinese people and we found that the spending per head of Chinese tourists in Thailand is around Bt52,000,” Porameth said.
China is easily Thailand’s No 1 tourism market, with 8 million Chinese visiting the Kingdom last year and spending Bt420 billion.
Porameth said that Asset Bright hoped that around 10 per cent of Chinese tourist spending would be through WeChat Pay.
Chinese tourists are limited in the amount of money they can bring into Thailand.
Asset Bright believes the partnership will increase the company’s fee income and help increase spending in the tourism sector.
Asset Bright runs two businesses, with e-commerce accounting for 20 per cent of its revenue and 80 per cent coming from real estate.
