PayPal bullish on nation's opening-up

China's commitment to further open up its financial sector is presenting huge opportunities for Pay-Pal, as the US-based online payment company strives to bridge Chinese merchants with overseas consumers for growth, its top executive said.

Hannah Qiu Han, CEO of PayPal China and senior vice-president of PayPal, said the company is pleased to see the Chinese government's "proactive" efforts to promote further openness in the financial sector.

"We have consistently observed new policies being introduced by the Chinese government for further financial opening-up, which we warmly welcome," Qiu said in an exclusive interview with China Daily during the 15th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos Forum, in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning province, last week.

"We also hope that more policies will be introduced in the future to further beef up our presence in the Chinese market," she said.

In 2019, PayPal became the first foreign company licensed to provide online payment services in China. It was also the first foreign operator with full control of a payment platform in the country.

In recent years, the US payment firm has increased its investment in its Chinese businesses twice, which Qiu believes demonstrates the company's "confidence in China's openness and economic prospects".

"The importance of the Chinese market to PayPal is undeniable. China, as a global manufacturing hub, is an important part of the global industrial chain," she said.

By serving more than 400,000 merchants in China, PayPal not only helps Chinese merchants to venture abroad, but also enriches choices for overseas consumers, Qiu said.

"China is the world's second-largest economy. As PayPal is dedicated to connecting Chinese merchants with overseas consumers, the Chinese market is definitely a link that cannot be ignored," she added.

Since the beginning of this year, China has been seeking greater breakthroughs in facilitating payments for foreign visitors and has launched more visa-free policies to attract foreign tourists.

"These measures reflect China's commitment to openness and determination to develop the digital economy. They will also greatly facilitate cross-border payments, providing broader market opportunities for payment service providers like us," she said.

In terms of finance and innovative technology, Qiu noted that China is a pioneer in the application of digital payment solutions.

"PayPal will strive to seize this opportunity to contribute to China's e-commerce and payment ecosystem and to become a partner of Chinese financial institutions and technology platforms," she said.

As US tech firm OpenAI's ChatGPT has taken the tech world by storm, Qiu said artificial intelligence is playing a crucial role in the online payment sector and such technologies have already been applied in daily operations.

PayPal, for instance, uses machine learning to detect fraud, including registration fraud, login fraud and payment fraud, she said.

"By leveraging machine learning technology, we can detect risky behavior in real-time so as to improve risk management capabilities and protect customer interests," she added.