Singapore-based lender OCBC has launched a pay-to-wallet service via its mobile banking app that enables customers to transfer funds to digital wallets in China without incurring transfer fees.

Said to be a first in Asia-Pacific, the service, enabled by Visa Direct, allows customers to send near-instant peer-to-peer transfers to both Weixin Pay (WeChat Pay) and Alipay using just the recipient’s China national identification name and China mobile number. Weixin Pay and Alipay are the two most dominant digital wallets in China with over a billion users, making up 90% of all digital payments in the country.

There is a daily and per transaction transfer limit of 50,000 yuan (US$6,979) and annual transaction limit of 300,000 yuan for Singapore customers to the wallet recipients.

The expansion of OCBC’s remittance capabilities comes amid a 50% jump in its Singapore customers’ remittances to China from a year ago.

According to the bank, the new service completes a fund transfer within seconds, improving on the current average of two to five days using other account-to-account or non-bank remittance services. It also eliminates the need to physically carry cash to non-bank remittance companies to make a cross-border funds transfer.

OCBC plans to expand the service so that by 2026, the most popular in-country digital wallets like GoPay and Ovo in Indonesia, and GCash, PayMaya and Coins in the Philippines, will be able to receive funds from OCBC Singapore bank accounts almost instantly and at competitive exchange rates. In total, the mobile app will have access to more than 50 digital wallets in the region, OCBC says, noting that it has seen a 10% increase in client fund transfers from Singapore to Asean markets over the past year.

“Our wider goal is to become the go-to app for cross-border transactions in Greater China, Asean and even globally,” says Sunny Quek, head of global consumer financial services at OCBC. “Our customers can already scan and pay merchants globally using their OCBC app. With the rollout of our peer-to-peer pay-to-wallet service today, we are well on our way to achieving this goal.”