Empowering foreign mobile wallets and financial institutions with seamless access to Chinese QR code payments

LONDON and BEIJING, Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Thunes, the Smart Superhighway to move money around the world, today announced the launch of its revolutionary QR Code Payments solution. This innovation allows Members of the Thunes’ Direct Global Network – including mobile wallets, neo-banks, and banks with mobile capabilities – to connect directly to China’s QR code payment systems operated by the Digital Currency Institute (DCI) and NetsUnion Clearing Corporation (NUCC). Now, users of foreign mobile wallets and financial apps traveling to China can seamlessly make payments by scanning merchant-presented QR codes for payment methods like e-CNY, Alipay, and WeChat Pay, transforming the travel experience for millions.

As China promotes its visa-free travel policies initiative to boost international tourism, Thunes’ launch of the QR Code Payments solution is timely. With an anticipated surge in foreign travelers, the ability to pay using QR codes, the preferred payment method in China, is crucial for providing a smooth, convenient, and local-like experience when visiting China.

According to the Payment System Report, published by the People’s Bank of China, there has been a 25% reduction in ATMs over the past six years, highlighting the accelerating shift toward a cashless economy. Forbes further reports that mobile payments now account for over 85% of all transactions in China.

Foreign travelers often face significant challenges when paying: traditional foreign credit cards are seldom accepted, especially in street shops and at small to medium-sized merchants. Travelers typically need to download and register with local Chinese payment apps that request sensitive personal data, causing friction and inconvenience. Thunes’ QR Code Payments solution addresses these pain points by offering a seamless, secure, and user-friendly payment experience for end-users of foreign financial apps such as mobile wallets and neo-banks.

Thunes is already working with valued Members of Thunes’ Direct Global Network, such as Airtel, Hanpass (South Korea), m-Pesa (Kenya), and Vodacom (Tanzania), to make the QR Code Payments solution available for their customers traveling to China. Other Members are expected to join soon, expanding the reach and impact of this innovative solution.

Floris de Kort, CEO of Thunes, stated: “Our Direct Global Network continues to break down barriers for our Members, enabling them to offer their customers unrivaled access to local payment systems worldwide. With this launch, we’re empowering our Members to provide their app users the convenience of paying like a local in China, quickly, dependably, and with full transparency. By enabling Thunes’ Chinese QR code payments into their apps, mobile wallets, neo-banks, and financial institutions can enhance the user experience while unlocking new revenue streams and leading the way in global payment innovation.”

Ian Ferrao, CEO of Airtel Money, said: “Airtel Money has been a long-standing Member of Thunes’ Direct Global Network, and Thunes continually adds value for us and our mobile wallet users. Thanks to their innovative solution, Thunes’ QR Code Payments will serve as a lifeline for African travelers, allowing them to effortlessly navigate China’s digital payment landscape and make purchases with ease, enhancing their overall travel experience.”

Jay Choi, Head of Growth Strategy at Hanpass, concluded: “As a Member of Thunes’ Direct Global Network, we can offer our customers instant and dependable cross-border payment solutions. With the Thunes’ QR Code Payments capability embedded in our application, Koreans visiting China will be able to pay local merchants without the hassle of managing cash or the fear of a transaction being declined. Thunes’ innovation enables our mission to always provide the most user-friendly services to our customers.”

About Thunes:

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Thunes is the Smart Superhighway to move money around the world. Thunes’ proprietary Direct Global Network allows Members to make payments in real-time in over 130 countries and more than 80 currencies. Thunes’ Network connects directly to over 7 billion mobile wallets and bank accounts worldwide, via more than 320 different payment methods, such as GCash, M-Pesa, Airtel, MTN, Orange, JazzCash, Easypaisa, AliPay, WeChat Pay and many more. Thunes’ Direct Global Network differentiates itself through its worldwide reach, in-house SmartX Treasury System and Fortress Compliance Platform, ensuring Members of the Network receive unrivaled speed, control, visibility, protection, and cost efficiencies when making real-time payments, globally. Members of Thunes’ Direct Global Network include gig economy giants like Uber and Deliveroo, super-apps like Grab and WeChat, MTOs, fintechs, PSPs and banks. Headquartered in Singapore, Thunes has offices in 15 locations, including Abidjan, Barcelona, Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Manila, Nairobi, Paris, Riyadh, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Shanghai. For more information, visit: https://www.thunes.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/thunes-unveils-qr-code-payments-solution-connecting-global-financial-apps-to-chinas-cashless-economy-302282874.html

BEIJING, Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — After paid-in foreign investment renewed to a 20-year high last year, Jiangyin, a private economy-reliant city in east China, saw its January-August data of the kind surge to 1.16 billion U.S. dollars.

The city, as a pacesetter among comparable localities in Jiangsu Province, absorbed the eye-catching foreign investment from both old and new foreign investors eager to participate in its strategically emerging industries.

Boasting relatively resilient foundations for integrated circuit, new energy, high-end equipment, bio-pharmacy, and other industries, Jiangyin City embraced 44 new foreign-invested projects in the first eight months of this year.

For instance, the city welcomed in August a new investment project from Trustchip Korea, which planned to build its Jiangyin headquarters and semiconductor equipment assembly and production base there.

Upon operation, annual sales of the base is predicted to reach 350 million yuan. Its second phase mulls construction of the China-Korea chip valley industrial park, where a 3rd generation automotive-grade semiconductor module packaging and wafer factory is planned to be founded.

Together with Jiangyin City, the South Korean company endeavors to jointly build a new model that exemplifies vibrancy of the integrated circuit industry there.

As a miniature of foreign companies’ participation in the major strategically emerging industries of Jiangyin, 30 others such as Unilever and EDF also established new investment programs in Jiangyin this year.

Other “old friends”, referring here to existing foreign-funded enterprises in Jiangyin, scaled up their investment too.

After 10 million U.S. dollars of investment out of profits were in place in early 2024, Alfa Laval (Jiangyin) equipment manufacturing Co., Ltd. who has been running business in China for 30 years intended to upsize its investment by 10 million U.S. dollars next year.

All of these resulted largely from the city’s unremitting efforts in creating a fair, rule of the law-based, policy-leading and innovation-encouraging business environment for foreign-funded enterprises.

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Under a 3-year action plan to pool foreign-funded enterprises’ regional headquarters, real rewards were provided to foster their investment expansion, R&D innovation and profits-based reinvestment in Jiangyin.

Currently, these business-friendly policies and life facilitation measures of six aspects regarding entry and exit, payment, working, living and travelling, consumption, education and medicare of foreigners are translating into pragmatic boosters for the city to attract more foreign investors.

Original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/342713.html

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/xinhua-silk-road-eastern-china-city-welcomes-record-high-foreign-investment-amid-vibrant-emerging-industries-302282861.html

LONDON, Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Most of the approximately 9,500 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) forecast to leave the UK this year are expected to head to the EU, which looks set to enjoy an influx of +6,500 millionaires from Britain by the end of December. The UAE will welcome the next biggest cohort fleeing the UK (+800 HNWIs), followed by the US (+720), Australasia (+300), and the Caribbean Islands in 5^th place, with +250 millionaires making a permanent move to their tropical shores.

In a follow-up to the 2024 Henley Wealth Migration Dashboard, international investment migration advisory firm Henley & Partners and New World Wealth have published their latest forecast ahead of next week’s UK budget.

Based on data over the past nine months, the UK’s wealth exodus or WEXIT is expected to include 85 centi-millionaires and 10 billionaires, and in an ironic reversal of Brexit fortunes, 68% are heading for Europe, with favored destinations being Italy, Malta, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Monaco, Cyprus, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

As Stuart Wakeling at Henley & Partners’ UK office points out, “the last two quarters have been record-breaking, with a 160% increase in applications by UK-based investors for investment migration programs over the last six months compared to the previous six months (October 2023 to March 2024). Brits have risen from 20^th place on our firm’s client source market list in 2018 to 4^th place this year in terms of global demand.”

The UK’s high tax rates and concerns about additional tax hikes that could be announced in Labour’s first budget in 14 years, are highlighted as being among the main reasons. New World Wealth’s Head of Research, Andrew Amoils, says the UK’s capital gains tax and estate duty rates are among the highest in the world. “What many politicians and academics in the UK fail to understand is that there are several high-income countries globally that don’t levy capital gains tax, including the likes of Singapore, the UAE, and even New Zealand. There is also a much longer list of countries that don’t charge estate duty, including high-growth markets such as Canada, Australia, and Malta.”

Peter Ferrigno, Director of Tax Services at Henley & Partners, says by promising not to increase income tax or VAT, the new government has limited its ability to raise new revenues. “Inheritance tax is at 40% rate and applies to estates above GBP 325,000, which is very high by global standards. Where the assets are still under the control of the original owner, we expect increasing restrictions on whether the transfer is effective for tax purposes or not. As regards the ‘carried interest’ loophole, the latest thinking is that taxing it at the full rate of income tax would drive a large chunk of the industry away, so we expect some change, but not all the way.”

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/wexit-wealthy-brits-exit-uk-for-eu-ahead-of-budget-302280346.html