WeChat to manage wealth

Tencent Holdings Ltd's recently announced mobile wealth management service will enable WeChat users to buy and sell funds via mobile devices. Provided to China Daily

Tencent announces plans to add financial services to messaging app

Tencent Holdings Ltd pushed into the nation's booming online financial services sector on Thursday as it announced plans to launch a wealth management service on its dominant mobile messaging app WeChat.

The service, called Licaitong, was jointly developed by Tencent and four fund companies, including China Asset Management Co and GF Fund Management Co.

The service, with a minimum investment of just 0.01 yuan ($0.0017), will enable WeChat users to buy and sell money market funds via mobile devices and get higher interest rates than typical banking deposits.

Tencent, China's largest Internet company by revenue, didn't reveal when the service will be officially launched and open to all WeChat users.

It did, however, say that its cooperation with the four fund companies isn't exclusive and it seeks to cooperate with more fund companies.

Sources said Tencent has been working on the service for months after its archrival, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, introduced Yu'E Bao, an investment service, in June 2013 through its e-payment affiliate Alipay.

The tremendous popularity of Yu'E Bao, which reported more than 250 billion yuan under management and 49 million users as of Wednesday, has prompted many Internet companies and fund managers to follow in its path.