If you follow American Express’s official WeChat account, you probably received the following message today:Due to operational needs, the official account American Express that you follow will undergo an account migration. At that time, this account’s services and functions will be transferred to the new official account American Express. The migration details are as follows:Old account name: American Express
Old account entity: American Express Asia Network Consulting Services (Beijing) Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch
New account name: American Express
New account entity: LianTong (Hangzhou) Technology Services Co., Ltd.
LianTong is AMEX’s issuing partner/acquiring company for RMB credit cards in mainland China. It is expected that all China-issued AMEX cards will gradually be converted to RMB versions in the future. Handing over the WeChat business to LianTong as a backstop makes me wonder whether this has anything to do with the Commander-in-Chief’s WeChat ban. Or maybe the business has simply gotten big enough that it is more convenient to let the Chinese partner company manage it.
LianTong (Hangzhou) Technology Services Co., Ltd. ("LianTong") is a joint venture established by American Express in mainland China and is responsible for operating the American Express brand in mainland China.LianTong was established in October 2017 with registered capital of RMB 1 billion. LianLian DigiTech Co., Ltd. holds a 50% stake, while two American Express subsidiaries together hold the other 50%.
HT: wikipedia
Related articles:
- Official announcement: AMEX formally obtains the Bank Card Clearing Business License in mainland China
- AMEX’s first batch of partner banks, mobile wallet operators, and third-party acquirers in mainland China
- [Follow-up after AMEX obtained mainland China bank card clearing approval] Multiple mainland Chinese banks launch AMEX single-brand RMB credit cards
- More China RMB AMEX credit cards launched! (It is expected that USD cards will eventually be fully replaced by RMB credit cards)
And of course, here’s another interesting item that may or may not be related to the WeChat ban: