The overseas licensing strategy of Chinese payment institutions is expanding into more emerging markets, following their initial forays into Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States. On May 19, Hong Kong-listed company LIANLIAN (Stock Code: 02598.HK) announced it has obtained a Category 3D Payment License from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). According to the announcement, this license permits the company to conduct business within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), including payment account operations, payment transaction execution, payment instrument issuance, account information services, and payment initiation services. Against the backdrop of sustained pressure on domestic fee rates and a saturated incremental market, an increasing number of payment companies are viewing overseas expansion as a crucial second growth curve. The overseas strategy of Chinese payment institutions is evolving from "cross-border payment" to "global payment," progressing from initially serving cross-border e-commerce collection, to establishing local acquiring capabilities globally, and further to building local wallets, clearing, settlement, and risk control systems. The Evolution from "Cross-Border Collection" to "Global Payment" Over the past decade, the overseas expansion of Chinese payment institutions has largely revolved around Chinese cross-border e-commerce. In the earliest stage, payment institutions primarily provided overseas collection, foreign exchange settlement, and fund repatriation services for Chinese sellers. Subsequently, as Chinese companies expanded globally, payment institutions began to establish local acquiring, local wallets, and enterprise financial services. Today, industry competition has escalated further. A professional in the cross-border payments industry indicated that the strategic goal of payment institutions is no longer solely to serve "Chinese merchants" but is gradually shifting towards serving global merchants and local consumers. "The past focus was helping Chinese companies bring money back from overseas; now the aim is to become part of the local payment infrastructure." This shift is evident in the accelerated pace of global license acquisition. Currently, PingPong holds over 60 global payment licenses and permits. Yiqia possesses licenses such as the Hong Kong MSO, Singapore MPI, US MSB, and US MTL. CoGoLinks also recently announced obtaining a Money Services Permit in the UAE. During this process, the regional structure of license portfolios is also changing. Beyond traditional key markets like Europe, the US, and Southeast Asia, the involvement in emerging markets such as the Middle East and Latin America is increasing. These regions, along with regional hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore, are forming a more layered global compliance network. For instance, after obtaining a payment license from the Central Bank of Brazil in 2025, Airwallex entered the Latin American market by acquiring the licensed Mexican institution MexPago. It has also established a license portfolio covering Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan, the UK, the EU, the US, and other regions, forming a global network spanning major trade corridors. LIANLIAN currently holds a cumulative total of 66 payment licenses and related qualifications, covering markets including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the US, the UK, Luxembourg, Thailand, and Indonesia. It is widely acknowledged within the industry that the core driver for payment institutions accelerating the acquisition of overseas licenses remains changes in profit structure. The domestic payment market is highly saturated, with fee rates consistently maintained within the range of 0.3% to 0.6%. In contrast, cross-border payment fees can typically reach 1.5% to 3%, representing a significant source of growth. A recent research report from China Securities noted that the overseas expansion of payments is benefiting from three major trends: increasing penetration of cross-border e-commerce, the globalization of Chinese corporate operations, and growing consumption demand from foreigners in China. The industry's growth is deeply linked to the global expansion of Chinese manufacturing and the expansion of global trade. The Restructuring of the Global Payment Ecosystem Another context for the accelerated overseas expansion of Chinese payment institutions is the rapid evolution of the global payment system itself. The latest Global Payments Report indicates that digital wallets remain the fastest-growing payment method globally, with the Asia-Pacific market being the most typical example. China's Alipay and WeChat Pay have driven the comprehensive penetration of QR code payments in offline scenarios. Local real-time payment systems like India's UPI and Brazil's Pix are also gradually expanding overseas. The report suggests that local payment methods are evolving from regional tools into global payment infrastructure. Simultaneously, "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) is becoming an important component of digital wallets. The report shows that BNPL accounted for approximately 4% of global e-commerce transaction value in 2025, amounting to about $300 billion, and is expected to increase to 11% by 2030. Changes in payment methods are also driving payment institutions to reconstruct their capability systems. For example, TenPay Global, the cross-border payment platform under Tencent Financial Technology, previously launched the "Mini Program Global Checkout" in Singapore, supporting overseas users in using local payment methods to complete payments within WeChat Mini Programs. After the Singapore-based bike-sharing platform Anywheel integrated this feature, both its WeChat Mini Program payment conversion rate and transaction volume saw significant improvement. Industry insiders point out that this signifies Chinese payment institutions are shifting from exporting a single payment experience to adapting to local payment habits. "The past emphasis was more on replicating the domestic model; now, more institutions are returning to the logic of localization." The License is Just the Beginning It is evident that overseas payment expansion is not a simple replication of domestic experience. Payment institutions face multiple challenges when advancing local payment businesses abroad. The first challenge is regulatory differences. Requirements for Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), data protection, and fund clearing vary significantly across countries. Taking the United States as an example, payment institutions need to apply for Money Transmitter Licenses (MTL) state by state, a process typically lasting 12 to 18 months, with some states requiring substantial security deposits. In the European Union, institutions must simultaneously comply with GDPR and anti-money laundering system requirements. Furthermore, most markets impose constraints on continuous operational capability. Some regions require licensed institutions to achieve a certain business scale within a specified period, otherwise facing potential license adjustments or even revocation. Several industry professionals have stated that the real difficulty lies not in "obtaining the license" but in subsequent sustained compliant operations. "A single license actually implies a complete set of local risk control, anti-money laundering, customer service, and data systems," noted a representative from a payment institution. From the perspective of Wang Pengbo, Chief Analyst at Broadcom Consulting, payment institutions should focus on the expansion paths of their core customer base, prioritize obtaining key licenses in strategic markets, and strike a balance between compliance depth and business breadth. Simultaneously, in the context of heavy asset investment, it is also necessary to enhance synergy efficiency between licenses and local operational capabilities. Concurrently, payment institutions also face geopolitical risks. Previously, "India's Alipay," Paytm, rapidly expanded with support from Ant Group but had its core payment business restricted by the Reserve Bank of India in 2024, leading to Ant's eventual divestment. AI Emerges as a New Competitive Variable Beyond globalization and tightening regulations, AI is becoming a new competitive variable in the payment industry. Several payment companies have systematically disclosed their AI investments in financial reports. LIANLIAN stated that capabilities related to AI, blockchain, and digital assets are reshaping the industry ecosystem, and the company continues to increase investment in technology research and development. In 2025, its R&D expenses increased by 13% year-on-year to 361 million yuan. Lakala's R&D investment reached 303 million yuan, accounting for 5.46% of its revenue, with R&D personnel constituting nearly 30% of its staff. Industry insiders believe that payment institutions are deploying AI, on one hand, to enhance operational efficiency, and on the other hand, to seek new growth opportunities within the existing competitive landscape. "In the past, payment institutions competed on channels and fee rates; now, the competition increasingly resembles a contest for 'global financial infrastructure,'" said a senior executive in the payment industry. The future core of competition for payment institutions will gradually shift from "channel capability" to a comprehensive capability encompassing "technology + compliance + global localized services." Currently, AI is widely applied in areas such as intelligent review, risk identification, customer service, and precision marketing. For instance, LIANLIAN introduced AI models to assist in merchant onboarding review judgments. Jialian Payment launched the intelligent customer service tool "AI Jia." XTransfer achieved a high degree of process handling efficiency through its automated review model. However, multiple industry professionals point out that "Payment + AI" still faces practical challenges such as model accuracy, data security, algorithmic black boxes, and anti-fraud. Yang Tao, Director of the Payment and Clearing Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Finance, noted that AI could potentially lead to issues like deepfake fraud, unclear accountability, and the amplification of systemic risks.