It's easier for expats to pay in Shenzhen!

On November 7, the digital yuan visual hard wallet made its national debut at the opening ceremony of the 18th Shenzhen International Finance Expo and the 2024 Shenzhen International Fintech Festival, a landmark event in promoting digital yuan globally!

The digital wallet is touchable, visible and scannable, with a built-in ink screen displaying the balance and payment code. It is a new killer application in the field of mobile payment, which efficiently fits into China's mature barcode payment environment, and allows smooth payment in stores, cabs, food stalls and other consumption scenarios, making payment easier for seniors, students and foreign visitors in China!

"One card in hand, no worries about payment!": Functions of the hard wallet card continue to be upgraded - Shenzhen's operating organization innovatively adds an ink screen to the card, which is only 1mm thick, and integrates a dynamic QR code to make the digital yuan hard wallet touchable, visible, and scannable.
"Touchable": In April this year, Shenzhen was the first in China to enable "tap-to-pay" option in the digital yuan APP, allowing users to make payment with a tap of the hard wallet on a POS machine, or on other terminals like trusted mobile phones.
"Visible": Based on the original hard wallet card, transaction details and wallet balance are clear at a glance for users, making the digital yuan hard wallet more user-friendly for seniors, students and foreign visitors in China.
"Scannable": With the newly added function of displaying dynamic QR codes for payment, no extra equipment is required beyond a smartphone for merchants. As long as they have mobile phones, they can accept payments with the "scan-to-pay" option enabled by the visible hard wallet, which is simple to operate and easy to use, and can be applied in more scenarios.
"Customizable": Seven different theme hard wallets are launched, including ICBC Shenzhen-themed visual hard wallet, ABC YOU Pengcheng visual hard wallet, BOC Shenzhen-themed visual hard wallet, CCB "Qianhai Dream" visual hard wallet, Shenzhen-Hong Kong digital yuan hard wallet, PSBC Shenzhen GBA Visual hard wallet, CCB GBA visual hard wallet, and CMB GBA starry sky visual hard wallet. The card skins are fashionably-designed with Shenzhen characteristics, and more specialty cards are to be launched in the future. This year, Shenzhen operators have given full play to the advantages of versatility, security and convenience of the digital RMB hard wallet, and have focused on key aspects of digital RMB hard wallet card such as its issuance, topping up, use and returning to optimize its service system and provide better services for the people.
Easier to get a card: With the rising number of inbound arrivals this year, to provide the first-stop service for overseas visitors, Shenzhen operators have set 34 hard wallet self-service card dispensers in key areas such as airports and border checkpoints, so as to make it convenient for overseas guests to get their digital RMB hard wallets upon their arrivals.
More ways of topping up: Besides topping up the wallets by the HK Octopus card, we have diversified ways of recharging, including cash in RMB and foreign currencies, and overseas VISA/MASTERCARD cards, so that users can top up their cards by any of these ways according to their own habits.
More application scenarios: In April 2024, Shenzhen operators and major acquirers upgraded the total of 36,000 acceptance terminals to support digital RMB hard wallets, and the upgrading of compatibility in key scenarios such as buses and metro stations also progresses steadily.
More flexible card returning: The digital RMB hard wallet is controllable and anonymous, users can return the card for refund at self-service card dispensers or bank outlets according to their own needs, which is convenient and fast.
In the future, Shenzhen operators will further optimize the digital RMB hard wallet service system, improve acceptance services and focus on enabling payment in key areas such as transportation, retail and catering, so that the digital RMB hard wallet can truly be used for all payment needs. The operators will also better the services to meet the diverse payment needs of different groups such as the elderly, students, and foreigners, to create a more inclusive and diversified payment service system and help to bolster China's opening up to a higher level.
Source: ShenzhenForeignAffairs