The two major billion dollar payment platforms have broken through the circle for the first time.
According to a reporter from Caixin News Agency, JD Pay and WeChat Pay have achieved interconnection and become the first third-party payment institution in the industry to simultaneously connect WeChat personal codes and merchant codes. It is reported that some payment institutions have previously achieved personal code level interconnection with WeChat Pay, and this is the first time that they have connected with JD Pay in the merchant code.
On the same day, the relevant person in charge of Tenpay also confirmed to the Caixin News Agency reporter that from now on, JD Finance, wallets and other apps under the three major communication operators have achieved commercial payment code interconnection with WeChat Pay. This time, the interoperability between wallet apps such as JD Finance and WeChat Pay has been piloted by some merchants, and will gradually be fully opened for interoperability in the future. At that time, users can directly use JD Financial App, as well as wallet apps under China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom to scan WeChat Pay merchant codes and personal codes for payment.
"There are many collection codes on the market, which can be divided into WeChat collection codes, Alipay collection codes, bank collection codes, etc. according to the different platform payment platforms." An insider told the Associated Press that before the interconnection, JD Pay could not directly scan WeChat personal codes and merchant codes. After this interconnection, users will be provided with more diverse payment options without adding code plates or changing the platform's payment function.
Some analysts believe that this interconnection provides a foundation for the integration of the two major user platforms in the payment industry, and also sets a precedent for the first large-scale commercial promotion cooperation and interconnection in the industry. From an industry perspective, this is another new progress in interconnectivity after WeChat Pay achieved personal code interoperability with China Mobile's "Hebao App", China Telecom's "Yi Payment App", and China Unicom's "Wo Wallet App" last year.
Intended to serve offline small-scale payment scenarios
JD Pay has officially entered the offline high-frequency and small-scale payment scene. The Caixin News Agency reporter opened the search bar of the JD Financial App and found that "scan code payment discount" was the first recommended information. After the link is opened, the page shows that JD Finance can save up to 30 yuan per day by scanning the WeChat payment code for consumption. According to informed sources, the test has been progressing since January.
It is worth noting that the activity rules show that in offline shopping scenarios in any city across the country, opening the JD Financial App's scan function, scanning the merchant's WeChat personal payment code and WeChat merchant payment code, and using JD Pay will give you the opportunity to participate in payment reduction activities. The specific participation scenarios cover the streets, alleys, large and small shops, such as vegetable markets, breakfast shops, supermarkets, convenience stores, fruit shops, and other small payment scenarios that are close to daily life through WeChat codes.
The person in charge of JD Pay also told Caixin News Agency reporters, "In this interconnection, we focus on small and convenient services, introduce JD's online advantages accumulated over the years to offline, and form a comprehensive interconnection covering WeChat personal codes and merchant codes, serving individual businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises, and subsidized users."
JD's layout in the payment landscape is becoming increasingly clear. In 2012, JD.com acquired online banking and obtained the group's first third-party payment license. Established in 2003, online banking is one of the earliest third-party payment institutions in China. At present, the business scope of the license is narrowed to Internet payment, mobile phone payment and bank card acquiring (Beijing).
Subsequently, JD.com successively acquired two senior aggregation payment platforms, namely Lehui (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. and Doraemon. According to Tianyancha, after the equity penetration, Lehui (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. was ultimately 100% owned by JD Technology Holdings Co., Ltd. At the same time, according to the official website of Duola Bao, the company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JD Technology and the leading company in JD Pay's offline product "Aggregated Payment". Duolabao is one of the early companies engaged in converged payment services in China. It was formally acquired by JD Technology in June 2019. The company can help merchants realize digital cash register, Internet marketing, etc.
The person in charge of JD Pay stated that interconnectivity will continue to promote the adjustment and optimization of industry structure, assist in fair market competition, and create a better industry landscape.
"JD Pay has a wide user base and is also one of the few institutions with experience and capabilities in promoting offline payment tools. It can also see mature risk control solutions." Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Broadcom Analytics, told Caixin News that all of these may be the reasons why JD Pay became the first payment institution to open WeChat merchant codes.
"The addition of JD Pay is conducive to breaking the existing industry pattern, creating a more fair competition market environment, and improving the overall competitiveness and service level of the payment industry. Moreover, JD Pay responds to policy calls (accelerating connectivity), and will also help promote consumption growth in the physical economy." Wang Pengbo analyzed.
Industry insiders: A demonstration effect will be formed
The breakthrough of major platforms is accelerating. It is reported that the interoperability between JD Finance and other wallet apps and WeChat Pay has been piloted by some merchants, and will gradually be fully opened for interoperability in the future. At that time, users can directly use JD Financial App, as well as wallet apps under China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, to scan WeChat Pay merchant codes and personal codes for payment.
The Caixin News Agency reporter learned from multiple sources that the interconnection between JD Pay and WeChat Pay is a positive response and attempt under the guidance of institutions such as NetEase Clearing Company, and ultimately achieved through the unified business rules and technical standards of NetEase Clearing Company.
In fact, in the "FinTech Development Plan (2019-2021)" issued by the People's Bank of China in 2019, it was explicitly proposed to promote the interconnection of barcode payments, break down the "barriers" of barcode payment services, and achieve mutual recognition and scanning of barcode identifiers between different apps and merchants.
Yang Tao, Director of the Payment and Clearing Research Center at the Institute of Finance of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, stated that both JD.com and WeChat Pay have a huge active user base and are also influential leading enterprises in the payment industry. The strategic cooperation between the two platforms will further demonstrate the demonstration effect of interconnectivity, promote the acceleration of industry reform, and achieve win-win results. This is conducive to the optimization of industry competition order and the enhancement of economies of scale in payment services.
In Wang Pengbo's view, the cooperation between JD Pay and WeChat Pay in promoting interconnectivity can be seen as a landmark node in the payment industry. Individual businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises, merchants, WeChat, and JD Pay have benefited from this, which also serves as a demonstration for the interconnection between payment institutions, especially large platforms, in the future.
In recent years, WeChat Pay has continued to promote openness and interoperability with various institutions in multiple scenarios. At present, it has supported the interconnection of barcode payments for nearly 30 banks, including Industrial, Agricultural, China, Construction, Transportation, and Postal Savings Bank, as well as multiple institutions such as Cloud QuickPass, China Mobile "Hebao", China Telecom "Yipay", China Unicom "Wowallet", and JD Finance. Users can complete payment by scanning the WeChat payment receipt code using the aforementioned institutional app. In addition, WeChat Pay continues to support the application of digital RMB in various scenarios.
Not only that, but also Alipay, another payment giant, has explored it. Since 2020, Alipay has explored barcode interconnection business, and completed mutual recognition of 34 institutions by scanning codes together with UnionPay and Netlink. Since 2021, Alipay, together with Taobao and UnionPay, has jointly promoted and completed the "cloud flash payment into Taobao" project; The next year, Alipay joined hands with Netlink to orderly launch online payment, Hebao and other payment methods for Taobao.