(Yicai) March 28 -- Shanghai will make it more convenient for foreigners to pay by mobile phone, bank card, and cash, according to the city's vice mayor.

The megacity on China’s eastern seaboard will set up a system with mobile phone payment as the mainstay, bank card payment as the focus, and cash payment as the backup, Hua Yuan told Yicai at a press conference in Beijing today.

Shanghai is China's largest airport and seaport city and also the first stop for many foreigners to do business, study, and travel in the country, he noted.

Shanghai will promote China UnionPay, Alipay, and WeChat Pay to innovate cross-border payment functions and help users make mobile payments at domestic retailers, Hua noted. It will also boost full coverage of point of sale machines at key locations and at merchants, including commerce, cultural tourism, and transport, and lay out more cash machines and foreign exchange outlets to help overseas tourists, he said.

UnionPay supports more than 180 overseas wallets, while Alipay can support e-wallets in 10 countries and regions, according to Hua. Shanghai deployed more than 37,000 foreign currency POS machines last year, more than 8,000 cash machines, 13 domestic and foreign exchange franchise bureaus, and 183 forex outlets, he added.

In addition, the Shanghai International Service Portal went online at the beginning of the year to help foreigners learn more about the city and integrate more easily, Hua pointed out.

Editor: Martin Kadiev