In recent years

due to the rapid popularization of mobile payments

an alternative effect has been created against traditional payment methods such as cash and bank cards

causing some elderly people and overseas visitors to China

to be unaccustomed and ill-adapted to the payment environment

　　To this end, on July 9, the People's Bank of China Tibet Autonomous Region Branch held a press conference to introduce work related to optimizing the payment environment and payment services in our region.

　　It is reported that since the beginning of this year, in order to improve payment convenience and to the greatest extent meet the diversified payment service needs of groups such as the elderly and overseas visitors to Tibet, financial institutions in our region have further built a payment service system in which bank cards, cash, mobile payments and other methods coexist compatibly. These include:

　　Optimizing the cash use environment

　　All 731 bank outlets in the region that handle cash business have launched standardized "coin purses" (three types of "coin purses" in amounts of 200 yuan, 300 yuan and 500 yuan, composed of 20-yuan, 10-yuan, 5-yuan and 1-yuan notes, mainly aimed at ordinary consumers who need small change) and customized "coin purses" (for specific users with special needs for small change). Up to now, more than 37,000 "coin purses" have been put into circulation.

　　Improving the acceptance environment for overseas bank cards

　　Focusing on high-frequency payment scenarios for overseas tourists such as "food, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment and medical care", the region has now completed the renovation of overseas card acceptance equipment for 1,392 key merchants, and the coverage rate of overseas bank card acceptance at key merchants has reached 100%.

　　Enhancing the convenience of mobile payments

　　The card-binding process for overseas visitors to Tibet has been simplified, and mobile payments have been promoted to be "externally compatible". Up to now, the region has recorded a total of 18,900 transactions involving "binding overseas cards domestically (binding overseas bank cards through WeChat Pay) and using overseas wallets domestically (directly using overseas e-wallets to scan WeChat QR codes for payment)", with an amount of 3.5673 million yuan.

　　Improving the level of payment accessibility for the elderly and for Tibet

　　Provide "accompanied" service in the banking hall. For elderly people who are older and have limited mobility, flexible and safe and convenient methods such as door-to-door service and remote video are used to handle relevant business. Provide assistive items for the elderly such as reading glasses, wheelchairs, medical kits and blood pressure monitors, set up caring service windows for the elderly and staggered service hours at counters for the elderly and other age-friendly and Tibet-friendly convenience measures, so as to create a "warm" payment environment at bank outlets. Inspection standards for Tibet-friendly special financial counters have been formulated. Up to now, there are 16 benchmark Tibet-friendly bank outlets in the region, and 739 bank outlets basically meet the Tibet-friendly demand standards.

　　Up to now, all bank outlets in the region have completed age-friendly renovations, with a completion rate of 100%, an increase of about 43 percentage points compared with the beginning of this year.