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Mobile phone payments have seen wide usage in China in recent years.
近几年，手机支付用户增加。
With it, you can buy all sorts of things, from ice-creams in supermarkets to wealth management products.
用户的商品选择多种多样，从超市冰淇淋到理财产品。
But this week, as some of us might have anticipated, one of the largest payment platforms WeChat, owned by Tencent, announced it will start charging users for transferring money out of their accounts
但本周，据最大移动支付平台之一腾讯微信宣布，转账功能将收取手续费，许多人或许对此早有预料。
Starting from March, after the first 1,000 yuan, users will be charged 0.1 percent of the amount they transfer out of their WeChat accounts into their banks.
从今年3月起，超过1000元部分将按每笔金额的0.1%收取手续费。
And the minimum charge for each transfer will be 0.1 yuan.
每笔至少收取0.1元。
The previous scheme in which users were charged once their total transfer exceeds 20,000 yuan within a month has been scrapped.
之前，每月转账金额超2万元收费规定取消。
What’s the thinking behind Tencent’s move?
腾讯此举用意何在？
Charging fees can discourage WeChat users from taking money out of their accounts, leaving Tencent with more funds to invest in lucrative wealth management products.
通过收费，微信用户将不愿提现，此举将扩大沉淀资金池，投资利润颇丰的金融管理产品。
Tencent has never announced how much money users transfer out of their WeChat or how much it pays banks for the transfers.
至于用户的提现金额，以及承担的银行费用，腾讯从未有所说明。
A Tencent executive has said payments to banks for transfers cost the company 190 million yuan per month.
某腾讯高管表示，腾讯为银行提现承担的费用为每月1.9亿元。
But several bank employees have told Caixin that amount was exaggerated.
但许多银行业内人士对财新表示，该数字夸大其词。
Indeed, small banks for instance, reduce or even waive the fees since Tencent’s deposits are usually quite large.
由于腾讯的资金沉淀力，许多小银行减免提现费。
Another employee at an e-bank unit said, charging users for transfer itself can be a source of profit, since Tencent’s rates are higher than most banks which charge Tencent 0.07 percent for transfers.
某网上银行雇员表示，收取转账费本身就是利润来源，腾讯的费率要高于多数银行的0.07%。
Considering WeChat already has 420 million users, who apparently sent out 8.1 billion virtual hongbao on the eve of Spring Festival, the idea doesn’t seem too bad.
除夕夜，4.2亿微信用户的红包交易量为8.1亿元，收费是个不错选择。
Of course, Tencent has been dabbling in wealth management products for a few years now, offering them to users at annualized returns between 2.5 to 5 percent.
当然，微信近几年也在不断“试水”理财产品，用户的年中回馈也在2.5-5%之间。
Tencent has been competing with Alibaba’s Alipay to get users to link their accounts to bank cards.
在银行卡方面，腾讯与阿里巴巴展开了“抢人”大战。
And just as it announces new fees, it faces a new competitor in Apple, which has just launched its own mobile payments in China today.
就在宣布收费之时，Apple Pay手机支付登陆中国。
But it may be an uphill battle for Apple too.
但对于苹果来说，这也是一场硬仗。
Greater China is Apple’s second-largest market by revenue and Apple has enlisted 80 percent of Chinese credit and debit cards for Apple Pay.
从收益来看，大中华区是苹果的第二大市场，Apple Pay也涵盖了国内80%的信用卡和借记卡。
But the vast majority still relies on WeChat and Alipay for e-payments.
但对于电子支付，大多数人还是依赖微信和支付宝。
Furthermore, Apple Pay is limited to iPhone users.
此外，苹果支持只限苹果手机用户。
Many analysts say, for Apple to win over customers, it needs to offer applications with significantly better experience.
许多分析人士指出，若想赢得“人气”，苹果需要提供更加完美的支付应用。
译文属可可英语原创，未经允许，不得转载。
