Since the beginning of 2026, third-party payment institutions have continued the craze of “obtaining licenses” overseas.
Airwallex, a modern enterprise financial services platform (hereinafter referred to as “Airwallex”), recently announced that it has acquired Paynuri Co. Ltd., a licensed payment company in South Korea, and successfully obtained qualifications related to Korean payment gateways, prepaid electronic payment tools and foreign exchange business.
The cross-border payment market has ushered in a new wave of competition in recent years.
Cross-border payment players including Lianlian Digital, PingPong, Payoneer, Kongkongyunhui, Wanlihui, PayPal, XTransfer, and Xunhui SUNRATE have all obtained domestic payment licenses.
At the same time, payment institutions such as Payoneer, Ant International, PingPong, Xunhui, Yeka, Kongyunhui, and New World are actively acquiring licenses overseas.
“In the context of policy support and encouragement and the deepening of the global economy, the cross-border payment market has become a new path for payment institutions to seek diversified business growth.” Industry experts interviewed pointed out that in competing for the cross-border payment market, local licenses are required for compliance operations on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are used to build a one-stop payment and settlement service system at home and abroad.
After obtaining the license, how to quickly promote synergy between domestic payment business and overseas payment business is the key.
Domestic license plates are all in the bag.
Cross-border payment has become a new focus, and many cross-border payment players have obtained payment licenses in the country.
It is reported that Kongkongyunhui has obtained a domestic payment license by acquiring 100% equity of Guangzhou Shangwutong Network Technology Co., Ltd., a licensed payment institution. It currently holds 80 licenses and permits in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, and its business has covered major Asian markets such as China, Singapore, Japan, and Vietnam.
In 2025, its revenue and transaction volume in the Asia-Pacific region will increase by 85% and 71% respectively year-on-year.
In addition to Konghui, cross-border payment service institutions have accelerated their efforts to obtain local payment licenses in recent years.
SUNRATE, a Singaporean digital global payment and financial management solution provider, acquired 100% equity of Chuanhua Payment Co., Ltd. through Shanghai Xunhui Information Technology Co., Ltd. for 315 million yuan, and obtained the qualifications to carry out Internet payment, prepaid card issuance and acceptance business in China.
In September 2025, the Guangdong Branch of the People’s Bank of China approved Yilian Payment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yilian Payment”) to officially change its name to Payanying Payment (Guangdong) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Payanying Payment”).
Pioneer is a global financial technology company founded in 2005 and headquartered in New York, USA. It was successfully listed on NASDAQ in the United States in 2021.
Yilian Pay obtained the “Payment Business License” from the People’s Bank of China in 2011 and was allowed to carry out prepaid card issuance and acceptance (Guangdong) and mobile phone payment services.
At the same time, Yilian Pay is also one of the first domestic payment institutions approved to engage in cross-border RMB payment business.
Xu Li, associate professor at Antai School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said that cross-border payment institutions acquire local payment licenses, on the one hand, for compliance operations, and on the other hand, to build a one-stop payment and settlement service system at home and abroad.
After the acquisition, how to quickly promote synergy between domestic payment business and overseas payment business is the key.
First, technology and data must be quickly integrated under compliance. On the basis of compliant sharing of technology and data resources, data value-added services must be provided, market trends discovered, and products and services continuously optimized.
Cross-border payment institutions not only obtain payment licenses in China, but also actively expand into overseas markets.
Kongkong Yunhui recently announced that it has acquired Paynuri Co. Ltd., a licensed payment company in South Korea, and obtained qualifications related to Korean payment gateways, prepaid electronic payment tools and foreign exchange business.
The acquisition of Paynuri Co. Ltd., a licensed payment company in South Korea, is an important strategic move after Kongkong Yunhui completed its latest G round of financing.
Chen Junyang, general manager of Airwallex Asia Pacific, said: “This acquisition is an important milestone for Airwallex to expand its global financial platform. South Korea’s rapidly developing e-commerce, creative industries and entertainment industries have shown great potential on the global stage. Our goal is to provide Korean companies with
Provide more efficient cross-border solutions to support its expansion into the international market.”
Since 2025, many payment institutions such as Payoneer, Ant International, PingPong, Xunhui, Yeka, Kongyunhui, and New World have actively obtained payment licenses in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and other regions.
Early last year, Kongkonghui successfully obtained the payment license issued by the Brazilian Central Bank and completed the strategic acquisition of MexPago, a licensed Mexican institution, paving the way for entry into two key markets in Latin America.
Yeka, a payment-based technology platform, has announced that it has obtained an MTL (money transfer license) license from the Arizona financial regulatory department, laying the foundation for further expansion of its business in the Americas and an important step in its globalization strategy.
The global payment platform PingPong also announced last year that it had been officially approved by the Bank Negara Malaysia and became China’s first To B (for corporate customers) cross-border payment institution holding a local MSB license.
Following the Singapore and Indonesian licenses, PingPong has obtained the Malaysian license this time, which will further expand the company’s business layout and local ecological network construction scope in countries and regions co-constructed by the “Belt and Road”.
“From the perspective of licensed countries and regions, payment institutions hope to use payment licenses as an entry point to provide various services in the field of cross-border trade and cross-border merchants.” Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at Suxi Zhiyan, said that payment institutions are actively obtaining licenses overseas, and compliance is indeed one of the important driving factors. The acquisition of license resources means that they can carry out payment business in compliance with local regulations.
As domestic payment competition in China becomes increasingly fierce and the gross profit margin of cross-border payments is better than that of domestic payments, expanding outward and seeking incremental markets has become a realistic choice for some payment institutions.
