International payments services are flocking to China

More than a few international payments services recently said China had become one of their biggest markets, as an increasing number of Chinese Internet/mobile companies are actively expanding overseas. They find, unsurprisingly, their Chinese customers are mainly gaming companies, for in China, gaming is one of the top revenue-generating online businesses, and one of the first to enter overseas markets.

While Google Play and Apple’s App Store make distributing software applications outside mainland China so much easier than before, prevailing online payments services vary among different countries or regions. Most Internet/mobile companies, including the Chinese ones, have to work with third-party payments companies that keep integrating different types of payments methods and services around the world.

OKPAY, an Europe-based payments company, finds 20 percent of its customers are from China. The service got traction in China after it began supporting Bitcoin transactions on some Chinese exchanges. To better serve Chinese customers, OKPAY has launched the Chinese version of its services and hired Chinese customer service representatives. Currently OKPAY’s customers in China are mostly individuals. The company hopes to power Chinese online retailers who export goods to markets where OKPAY has a strong presence.

OKPAY doesn’t have an office in China yet. Fortumo, an Estonian payments company focused on carrier billing, set up its office in China last year. It offers a package of offerings tailored for Chinese mobile developers, from language translation service to app/content distribution in different markets.

Paymentwall, which has integrated more than 120 payments options, is preparing to open an office in Beijing, China. Chinese payments services, including Alibaba’s Alipay, have been integrated into its all-in-one solution. As the company primarily serves digital content or service providers, its Chinese customers are most gaming companies. To their surprise, the Chinese gaming companies least likely to enter overseas markets began to work with them. Like OKPAY, Paymentwall is considering expanding its customer base in China to include physical good retailers.

This story originally appeared on TechNode. Copyright 2014