Nepal Bans China’s WeChat Pay, Alipay

Nepal Bans China’s WeChat Pay, Alipay
A Wechat Pay sign is pictured at a Wechat Pay pop-up store in Shanghai, China on Jan. 20, 2018. Reuters
Reuters
Updated:

KATHMANDU—Nepal has banned popular Chinese digital payment apps WeChat Pay and AliPay saying payments from the unregistered systems were illegal and resulting in a loss of income to the Himalayan nation, a spokesman for the central bank said on May 22.

Laxmi Prapanna Niroula, a spokesman for the Nepal Rastra Bank, said the two digital payment platforms were not registered with the regulator in Nepal but were widely used by Chinese tourists for settling their payments with businesses.