Tencent said to start charging for some WeChat payments, transfers

Tencent Holdings will charge users of its ubiquitous social networking and payment app WeChat 0.1% for spending and transfers over RMB20,000 per month, Caixin reported, citing an unnamed employee at the company. The employee said the company had made the policy change on October 17, and that the money would be put toward paying fees charged by Chinese banks for handling payments made through the app. The magazine cited another unnamed source close to Tencent as claiming the firm has been paying banks fees for handling user payments and money transfers, adding to its costs. The company has not disclosed in financial reports how much it has been paying banks.