WeChat Launches Investment Product
Tencent Finance, 1/16/14
Chinese internet and mobile services firm Tencent (0700.HK) has quietly launched fund sales on the "Wealth" ("Licaitong") platform of the company's WeChat (Weixin) mobile messaging app. The first fund product released on WeChat's "Wealth" channel, provided by China Asset Management (ChinaAMC), was made available in limited release, reaching its trial investment quota and user limit within 24 hours. Users can access "Wealth" through the "My Bank Card" channel of WeChat. Fund sales have seen a seven-day annual yield rate of approximately 6.4%, according to Tencent, and the channel has since been reopened for a second tranche of investment.
"Wealth" currently supports debit card deposits from 12 banks, 24/7 access to funds, no service charges, and deposit insurance provided in cooperation with PICC. During the trial period, deposits with a single card in a single day cannot exceed RMB 8,000, and users' total deposits in "Wealth" accounts cannot exceed RMB 1 mln. There are also certain limitations to funds transfers, namely, no more than RMB 6,000 can be transferred from any account in one day. Each account is limited to three transfers per day.
According to an insider at Tencent's Tenpay online payment service, WeChat will release fund products in partnership with ChinaAMC, GF Fund Management, E Fund Management, and China Universal Asset Management in the future.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Rumor: Tenpay to Release WeChat Account Balance VAS" MD 11/29/13 issue.
Keywords: financial services VAS wireless PICC Tenpay Tencent ChinaAMC E Fund 0700.HK WeChat GF Fund CUAM mobile IM
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