Hong Leong Bank, the first Malaysian bank to partner Tencent's WeChat Pay, is confident that the Chinese mobile payment platform will be received positively.

"With a proven platform such as WeChat Pay, ready-to-activate users already on WeChat and the growing number of merchants signing up to WeChat Pay, we are confident that WeChat Pay will be received positively in Malaysia," the bank's chief executive officer and group managing director Domenic Fuda said in a statement Thursday.

Hong Leong is the first bank in Malaysia to partner Tencent's local WeChat Pay as master merchant acquirer, enabling merchants and individual users to transact with WeChat Pay for the first time in Malaysia in Ringgit.

The development has been eagerly awaited by industry watchers and Malaysian consumers, following the bank's collaboration with Tencent in November 2017 to provide WeChat Pay solutions for online and offline digital payments from retail merchants in Malaysia with an easy-to-adopt, fully integrated cross-border payment solution.

Chinese tourists have been able to pay using WeChat Pay with Renminbi when visiting Malaysia.

When the bank took the step to become a merchant acquirer for WeChat Pay in Malaysia, it was not only looking to expand the payment ecosystem to enable Malaysian merchants to cater to the Chinese tourists market, Fuda said,

"We are thrilled that our customers will be amongst the firsts in Malaysia to access this highly popular Chinese electronic wallet and pay for their transactions seamlessly in Malaysian Ringgit, especially for products and services offered on WeChat platform," he said.