When cash is no longer king

Cards are coming

The CNY wallet card - a new cross-boundary payment channel - was jointly launched in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in late February by the city's Luohu district government, the Shenzhen branch of Bank of China and Octopus Cards Ltd, which operates Hong Kong's most-popular stored value smart card.

The CNY wallet card provides an extra option for Hong Kong residents in making cross-boundary payments. It accepts Hong Kong travel permits in registering for the card, and enables Octopus app accounts to top up for the first time. In making payments, it's simple and convenient - tapping a payment terminal without requiring a mobile-phone or internet connection, just like paying with an Octopus card, which Hong Kong people are used to doing.

Wang Haiwei, head of e-CNY projects at the Shenzhen branch of Bank of China, said the e-CNY wallet card offers an ideal solution in making cross-boundary payments, especially small-value payments by visitors who don't have a mobile-phone app on the mainland.

Asked about the need for such a service, Wang said local governments on the mainland are keen to stimulate consumption and boost economic growth. "Although vouchers have proved to be an effective means of stimulating consumption, it isn't easy to come up with an ideal solution by issuing vouchers for overseas visitors due to the lack of a unified payment tool with identity authentication and its dependence on a mobile network."

"The e-CNY wallet card is welcomed by governments in issuing vouchers because it can meet the two requirements mentioned and, more importantly, subsidies are handed out directly to inbound visitors," says Wang.

For instance, the Luohu district authorities have rolled out a 200-yuan ($28.86) government subsidy for each Hong Kong e-CNY card user to stimulate consumption.