In late January, winter rain moistened Hangzhou. Lu Canping, founder of Hangzhou Yaoshangxing Technology Co., Ltd., skillfully brewed a pot of Longjing tea, gently dispelling the chill outside the window. His company specializes in on-demand customization business for clothing, footwear, accessories, and more, primarily targeting European and American markets. Riding the wave of cross-border e-commerce, this private enterprise established less than a decade ago has seen its annual turnover surge from initial hundreds of thousands of yuan to over 100 million yuan, with profits naturally rising accordingly.
While the warmth of life by West Lake persists, the commercial vitality surges within the wave of private enterprises expanding globally. As Lu Canping lifts his teacup, every transaction link and each fund settlement between his company and global consumers is silently supported by efficient and reliable cross-border payment systems operating behind the screens.
Currently, the value of cross-border payment institutions is being redefined, evolving from mere payment channels into new infrastructure empowering the "capillaries" of global trade. Their role has ascended from auxiliary tools to indispensable core nodes in international commerce, continuously enhancing the global competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing through concrete actions.
Laying Overseas Payment "Expressways" In recent years, China's cross-border e-commerce has grown from small to large scale while improving in quality, becoming a new highlight in China's foreign trade and global economic landscape. According to General Administration of Customs data, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 2.75 trillion yuan in 2025, representing 69.7% growth compared to 2020. Africa serves as a significant stage in this development wave.
Throughout Africa, Chinese-made products are ubiquitous, ranging from household appliances to clothing, with wigs being particularly popular among locals and emerging as a distinctive category in China-Africa trade. Xie Na, regional sales director of global payment platform PingPong, explained that Africa has substantial wig demand, where high-end customized wigs achieve personalized designs through pure hand-weaving, with unit prices exceeding $500 and even reaching approximately $650 in the Nigerian market.
Xuchang City in Henan Province is renowned as the "World Wig Capital." According to Henan Provincial Government information, Xuchang's foreign trade imports and exports reached 12.61 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, with private enterprises accounting for over 98% of the total trade volume. However, local private enterprises frequently encounter challenges during global expansion: "Can cross-border collection account opening procedures be simplified?" "Can funds in different currencies from exports to various countries be managed uniformly?" "Can we use just one payment tool for paying overseas suppliers and distributing salaries/commissions to international employees?"
Traditional cross-border payments relying on bank wire transfers involve multiple intermediary banks, potentially causing issues like high handling fees, extended settlement periods, multi-currency settlements, and real-time exchange rate fluctuations. Combined with differences in financial regulations across countries, private enterprises struggle to cope and face risks of losing orders, according to Lou Feipeng, researcher at Postal Savings Bank of China.
Following field research in Xuchang's wig industry, PingPong spent nearly a year launching African local wallet functionality. The company successively introduced local collection accounts in Nigeria and Kenya, improving sellers' cross-border payment settlement efficiency to seconds, enabling real-time settlements in local African currencies, and helping businesses quickly recoup funds.
Similar payment challenges exist in advanced manufacturing sectors. Sank New Energy Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. is a national high-tech enterprise integrating R&D, production, and sales of UPS uninterruptible power supply products.
The local payment capability provided by cross-border payment platforms is crucial, as this "local adaptation" promotes brand value accumulation, stated Gao Qin, founder of Sank New Energy. After adopting Nigerian local collection accounts, the company directly quotes in naira (local Nigerian currency), with customer payments settling within seconds, not only reducing transaction barriers but also enabling more flexible product pricing strategies that enhance global brand competitiveness.
Cross-border payment institutions effectively help enterprises achieve multi-currency, multi-channel settlements by establishing global localized clearing networks, while providing real-time exchange rate locking and automated sub-accounting services through digital platforms, significantly improving capital turnover efficiency. Shen Enguang, co-president of Hong Kong-listed cross-border payment institution LIANLIAN, explained that they have built comprehensive global cross-border fund solutions where activating global collection functions for private enterprises involves no account opening fees, substantially reducing international expansion costs through fully online operations supporting multiple account types.
For private enterprises, cross-border payment institutions serve not merely as basic payment channels but as integrators of global capital networks, using technological empowerment to complete trade closed loops and provide critical infrastructure for private enterprises' global expansion, noted Wu Dan, researcher at Bank of China Research Institute.
Diverse Market Entities Collaborate Private enterprises' global expansion relies on policy support. The Private Economy Promotion Law implemented on May 20, 2025, explicitly supports and guides private economic organizations in expanding international exchanges and cooperation while conducting overseas investment operations compliantly.
Amid favorable policies, cross-border payment institutions accelerate global layout. Currently, multiple market participants collaborate in the cross-border payment sector, building a layered service ecosystem. Beyond specialized third-party institutions like PingPong and LIANLIAN, leading platforms WeChat Pay and Alipay along with major commercial banks hold significant positions.
Leveraging massive domestic user bases and extensive global presence, WeChat Pay and Alipay provide tailored retail payment solutions for small and medium private enterprises' international expansion through local wallet partnerships and QR code payments, particularly suited for high-frequency, small-amount scenarios like cross-border e-commerce retail and tourism consumption. Major banks, utilizing comprehensive global branch networks, substantial financial strength, and mature compliance advantages, focus on large B2B transactions like bulk commodity trade, offering integrated financial services that create clear complementary differentiation with third-party cross-border payment institutions.
Notably, global licensing布局 has become the core approach for cross-border payment institutions to enhance localized service capabilities. As of current records, LIANLIAN has established global payment licensing coverage comprising 66 payment licenses and relevant qualifications, holding a VATP license issued by Hong Kong's SFC, serving over 100 countries and regions while supporting transactions in more than 130 currencies. By January 20, 2026, PingPong had obtained over 60 payment licenses across major global economies including China, the US, and EU, with operations covering key trade regions like Europe, America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
Supported by policies, payment institutions are accelerating innovative transformation from single payment service providers to comprehensive financial service providers, integrating value-added services like foreign exchange management and supply chain finance, demonstrating distinct characteristics of service intelligence, network globalization, and ecosystem integration that deeply empower private economy globalization, stated Xue Hongyan, special researcher at Sushang Bank, in an interview.
Benefiting from upgraded cross-border payment services, China's private economy continues to demonstrate strong foreign trade vitality. Customs data shows private enterprises maintained their role as the "main engine" of foreign trade in 2025, with imports and exports reaching 26.04 trillion yuan (7.1% growth), accounting for 57.3% of total trade value, demonstrating robust development resilience and market competitiveness.
Multiple Parties Explore "Development Keys" As private enterprises accelerate global expansion and new cross-border trade formats emerge, the cross-border payment industry faces broader development opportunities.
According to Lu Canping, many similar private enterprises maintain optimistic expectations for cross-border business development. The company continues to view cross-border sectors favorably, planning not only to increase resource investment but also actively explore emerging markets, with Southeast Asian market布局 preparations already underway for 2026.
However, during research interviews, some respondents indicated that cross-border payment institutions still face numerous challenges when serving private enterprises, including insufficient coverage of differentiated needs, difficulties balancing risk control system construction with diverse requirements, along with practical issues like data security assurance and cross-border regulatory coordination.
Addressing these pain points, Xue Hongyan believes the key lies in coordinated promotion of systematic innovation. Technologically, exploring blockchain technology's large-scale application can enhance transaction transparency and security; industrially, introducing lightweight service solutions can reduce usage costs for SMEs, while establishing cross-institutional data sharing and joint risk control platforms can combat cross-border fraud risks, ultimately building secure, efficient, and inclusive global capital networks to safeguard private enterprises' global expansion.
For practical implementation, deepening cooperation and technological empowerment form two core approaches. Tian Lihui, finance professor at Nankai University, recommends that cross-border payment institutions deepen localized cooperation with local governments and banks to establish compliance service frameworks while strengthening technological empowerment through AI and big data to build dynamic risk models enhancing real-time response capabilities for cross-border transactions. Only by achieving coordinated linkage among "technology + policy + ecosystem" can private economy's globalization potential be fully unleashed.
Looking ahead, Wu Dan believes cross-border payment institutions should focus capability building on three dimensions: technologically, constructing dynamic risk control systems based on AI and big data to provide precise, customized solutions; cooperatively, strengthening coordination with global financial networks and regulatory agencies to expand efficient, compliant clearing channels; governance-wise, actively promoting industry standard co-establishment while exploring blockchain technology for transparent payment process governance, ultimately building a secure, intelligent, and inclusive global capital service ecosystem.
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