OCBC has launched a peer-to-peer (P2P) pay-to-wallet service via Visa Direct, allowing customers to send near-instant transfers to Weixin Pay (WeChat Pay) and Alipay using just the recipient’s China national ID and mobile number. OCBC becomes the first mobile banking app in Asia Pacific to offer this service, enhancing remittances to China’s two leading digital wallets, which collectively handle 90% of all digital payments in the country.
The service cuts transfer times from the typical 2–5 days to mere seconds, eliminating the need for customers to visit non-bank remittance companies in person. Transfers are made directly from OCBC customers’ Singapore bank accounts, with limits of CNY50,000 per transaction and CNY300,000 annually.
Sunny Quek, OCBC‘s head of global consumer financial services, emphasized the bank’s commitment to expanding the service to over 50 digital wallets, targeting popular options like GoPay and Ovo in Indonesia, and GCash, PayMaya, and Coins in the Philippines over the next two years.
“Our goal is to become the go-to app for cross-border transactions in Greater China, Asean, and globally,” Quek said.