This Day, That Year

Item from Dec 5, 1991, in China Daily: A Beijing resident uses an electronic teller in the Wangfujing branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

It is the first bank in Beijing to use electronic tellers, providing easier and faster banking services for customers.

Since the first automated teller machine appeared on Beijing street, ATMs are everywhere in the capital.

But as mobile payment technology is increasingly changing lifestyles, fewer people are using cash or cards in daily life. Scanning a code with a smartphone, consumers can pay for a product or service.

The convenience offered by the technology is making it more popular across the country.

A recent survey conducted by online payment tool WeChat Pay showed 84 percent of people in China are happy to go out without carrying cash.

And 14 percent live totally cash-free lives.

The number of mobile payment users has exceeded 520 million, according to Ant Financial, Alibaba’s financial arm. The total transaction value of mobile payment platforms in China reached $5.5 trillion last year, according to US electronic payment platform PayPal.

Mobile payment players are going global. Both Alipay and competitor WeChat Pay have ramped up their international expansion over the last two years.

In October, Alipay expanded its partnership with Dutch payment company Adyen to facilitate in-store mobile payments at retail partners in the United Kingdom.

WeChat has worked with SafeCharge, a British payment technology company, to make WeChat Pay available at point-of-sale locations in the UK for the first time.