Apple Pay opens China Visa cards as NFC hits 79%

The rollout starts with ICBC BOC ABC BoCom CMB CITIC Ping An and Industrial Bank.

Visa and Apple have announced a new partnership to allow Chinese cardholders to use Apple Pay for international transactions. 

This update enables users in mainland China to add Visa credit and debit cards to their digital wallets for use at overseas merchants, covering in-store, in-app, and online purchases.

The move comes as contactless technology becomes the global standard, with 79% of all in-person transactions now made using Near Field Communication (NFC). 

Yin Xiaolong, General Manager at Visa Mainland China, stated that the initiative aims to meet rising consumer demand for interoperable mobile payment solutions. 

He noted that Visa is increasing its investment in data security and tokenisation to support these cross-border scenarios.

The service is initially available to cardholders from eight major institutions: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, China CITIC Bank, Ping An Bank, and Industrial Bank.

Visa and Apple confirmed that additional partners, including China Construction Bank and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, will be added in future rollouts.