China raises daily mobile payment limit for foreigners to US$5,000

He People’s Bank of China (PBPC) announced this Friday an increase in the daily mobile payment limit for foreigners, which goes from US$ 1,000 (925 euros) current at US$ 5,000 (4,623 euros).

The measure, which also raises the annual limit of cumulative transactions from US$10,000 dollars (9,246 euros) to US$ 50,000 (46,232 euros), seeks to facilitate, according to the entity, the use of mobile payments for foreign visitors and residents in China.

Authorities acknowledged that some users have experienced difficulties with local mobile payment systems, calling them “unusable”, “not easy to use” and “not wanted”, reported today the economic portal Yicai.

Among the most common problems is the inability to link international bank cards, when supposedly last July the ubiquitous electronic payment services WeChat Pay and Alipay announced that their payment systems will be available to foreign users visiting China, throughout that add difficulties to pay larger amounts.

“Due to the low success rate of foreign visitors in China When trying to link foreign bank cards with Alipay and WeChat, both were required and guided to optimize business processes and improve the efficiency of card linking,” The vice president of the BPC, Zhang Qingsong, declared this Friday at a press conference.

Among the measures announced by the organization to “improve the payment experience” These include optimizing business processes, improving card linking efficiency and simplifying identity verification procedures.

The measure adds to a series of innovations launched in recent months by Beijing to improve services for foreigners and tourists in the country.

In November, the China Railway company began implementing an online system for verifying the identity of foreign passengers, which will facilitate the purchase of train tickets for this type of user in the Asian giant.

In addition, China announced the same month that citizens of Spain and four other European Union countries will not require a visa to enter the country for one year if their stay does not exceed 15 days.