Dubai: Chinese expats in the UAE stand to benefit on remittances after a new deal between Dubai fintech Astra Tech and China’s Tencent Financial Technology.
This will allow Astra Tech owned Botim app users in the UAE to remit funds to ‘Weixin’ users in China. (The Weixin/Wechat super-app is part of the Tencent portfolio.)
The new collaboration ‘eliminates traditional boundaries, enabling Botim users to make international transfers via Botim messenger platform directly to over 1 billion Weixin users’, Astra Tech said in a statement.
Recipients in China can receive funds through Weixin messages, monitor the remittance status, and choose to receive funds using Weixin Wallet Balance or bank cards linked to Weixin Pay.
"By bridging continents and enabling seamless financial interactions, we pioneer a new era of cross-platform financial inclusion,” said Abdallah Abu Sheikh, co-founder of Astra Tech and CEO of Botim.
“This also elevates the UAE’s status as a global tech and finance powerhouse, reaffirming our commitment to simplifying our users' everyday experience.”
App-based remittances
Sending and receiving money via apps is heading for another year of super-charged growth in the UAE, and Astra Tech clearly wants Botim wants to be part of this particular conversation too. A spate of super-apps are busy carving up a presence in the UAE financial services space, obviously built around what they achieve in remittances.
Weixin (or WeChat) have already gone through the super-app journey in China. “Partnering with Botim marks an important milestone in our journey to enhance the global cross-border remittance experience," said Royal Chen, Vice-President of Tencent Financial Technology. "Which is to make sending remittance as easy as sending a message while ensuring that transactions are safe, secure and compliant.
"By connecting Botim and Weixin users together through remittance and messenger functions, it creates a unique remittance experience across the two platforms.”
