The financial tech firm launched PayPal Complete Payments on Thursday, allowing merchants to accept foreign credit cards and mobile wallets
US digital payments platform PayPal is stepping up efforts to support Chinese cross-border merchants with the launch of new services in Shenzhen, tapping into booming exports from the country despite economic headwinds.
PayPal’s China business recorded double-digit growth in the past year, Hannah Qiu, senior vice-president and China CEO of PayPal, said at a company event in the country’s southern tech hub on Thursday.
“This is impressive growth considering the pressure and challenges facing the global and Chinese economy,” Qiu said.
The San Jose, California-based company launched PayPal Complete Payments for China on Thursday, with the aim of helping merchants sell abroad by allowing them to accept payments from global customers using credit cards and foreign digital wallets.
While PayPal has long supported cross-border payments, the new service is meant to broaden support for a variety of newer platforms such as Apple Pay and Google Pay while providing additional services such as risk management. PayPal Complete Payments is currently available in more than 30 markets, including the US and multiple European countries.
PayPal’s China expansion comes as it tries to find new growth opportunities in the country’s booming export market amid rising cross-border e-commerce, despite uncertainties in the global macroeconomic environment.
China’s exports grew at their fastest pace in 17 months in August, rising 8.7 per cent from a year earlier to US$308.65 billion in August, according to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs. The pace was faster than the 7 per cent seen in July. China’s total exports in the first eight months of 2024 reached US$2.31 trillion, up 4.5 per cent year on year.
However, Chinese exporters are facing new geopolitical uncertainties in some of their largest markets, especially the US and Europe. The EU has already levied provisional tariffs on China-made electric vehicles, while the US and Canada are making similar moves against imports from China.
Earlier this month, Washington announced new measures – aimed largely at Chinese e-commerce platforms like Temu and Shein – to reduce the range of low-value imports eligible for duty and tax exemptions.
“Till today, the US has been the biggest and most important market for our Chinese clients venturing abroad, but we are increasingly seeing more diverse choices as Chinese merchants are also looking at markets in the European Union, Middle East and Latin America,” Qiu said at the event.
“There has [been] and will always be headwinds and challenges,” she said, “but I firmly believe that Chinese merchants and the cross-border industry will continue to grow.”