Member Article

WeChat partners with London payments firm as it gears up for UK expansion

Just days after Chinese messaging giant revealed that it is about to embark on a renewed push into the UK market a London-based FinTech firm has announced it is to partner with the tech firm to provide payment options within WeChat’s wildly popular payment app.

Payments firm Tramonex, which is based out of Smithfield, has said it has entered into an agreement to integrate its payments infrastructure with WeChat Pay to take advantage of the soaring numbers of Chinese tourists visiting the UK.

According to the FinTech startup, the arrangement will mean that Chinese nationals travelling abroad will be able to make payments within the app without the need for foreign currency starting from today.

WeChat Pay was launched back in 2013 and has become one of China’s foremost mobile payment services, allowing users to make quick in-app payments using QR codes in RMB while overseas purchases are automatically converted to RMB.

Amine Berraoui, who is Chief Executive Officer at Tramonex commented: “Our strategy is to be a business enabler by facilitating payments through the use of technology in order to drive cost savings and efficiencies.

“As a result, we know we can bring real value to the WeChat Pay solution and the entire team is very excited about this opportunity. This arrangement goes a long way in developing Tramonex’s footprint and awareness within Asia and completely opens up the East to West corridor fulfilling the goal of facilitating ‘global’ flows’.”

Founded in 2013 by former Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank executives, Tramonex provides a range of forex and payment services and last year secured a £250k grant from the UK government to prototype cross-currency payments using blockchain.