Tencent, the Chinese internet giant, is reportedly cooking up a new credit-based payment product.
According to the SCMP, the platform is called Fenfu and it works pretty much like a credit card.
The new Fenfu tool will allow users who cannot get a credit card from a bank to have a virtual one via WeChat. In addition, it will grant loans which can be interest-free for about one month, plus other micro-credits options and long-term financial services.
Fenfu is expected to go live within WeChat Pay in the fourth quarter of the year and seems to be a step forward for the widely popular payments app. Unlike Ant Financial’s and JD.com’s platforms, which have their own credit payment tools, WeChat Pay can only link to its user’s bank-issued debit and credit cards.
The new payment platform, they say, could increase Tencent’s revenues by charging users service installment and late payment fees.
Fenfu also puts Tencent square against Ant Financial’s virtual credit card, Huabei. Huabei reportedly has over 190 million users and it boasts roughly RMB99.2 billion in outstanding loans. With WeChat Pay’s over 800 million-strong userbase, however, this space could get be interesting.
Photo: Donald Trung Quoc Don (Chữ Hán: 徵國單) - Wikimedia Commons