YeePay selects ClearBank to help merchants expand into the UK and Europe
YeePay, one of China’s leading third-party payment institutions, has chosen ClearBank, the enabler of real-time clearing and embedded banking, as its safeguarding bank provider in the UK and Europe, supporting its mission to help merchants expand into international markets with confidence.
The partnership is designed to enhance YeePay’s customer offering by enabling merchants to access local, regulated banking and payment infrastructure as they enter the UK and European markets. This includes the ability to collect and pay out funds locally, helping reduce operational friction and support compliant cross-border growth.
YeePay processes over USD $720bn in transactions annually and provides digital transaction and cross-border payment services across more than 200 countries and regions. Its international expansion strategy focuses on obtaining local licenses in key markets, including the UK and the Netherlands, to meet growing merchant demand for trusted, locally regulated payment services.
Through its partnership with ClearBank, YeePay will be supported by the provision of local banking services, in its applications for Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license’s with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). Once approved, ClearBank’s banking infrastructure will enable YeePay to provide indirect access to UK and European payment schemes and offer named local virtual IBANs (VIBANs) to its end-merchant customers for collections, payouts and safeguarded funds.
For ClearBank, the partnership reinforces its role as a banking partner for Asia-based fintechs expanding into the UK and Europe, supporting clients with established transaction volumes and international ambitions. ClearBank UK will also onboard existing regulated entities within the YeePay group, enabling certain payment activities and VIBAN issuance to be conducted within the scope of their existing regulatory permissions.
Yu Chen, co-founder of YeePay, said: “ClearBank’s world-class offering, alignment on regulatory process and innovative banking infrastructure will be vital to unlocking our expansion into the UK and European markets. ClearBank’s experience in supporting Asian fintechs on this journey made it an easy decision for us to select it as our partner. We look forward to tapping into this expertise and using the strengths of both our businesses to enable our EMI licence applications as we start to serve merchants directly.”
Mark Fairless, CEO of ClearBank, said: “Since obtaining our European banking licence, we have seen increasing interest from Asian based clients seeking dependable banking services across Europe and the UK. Our partnership with YeePay demonstrates how we combine scalable infrastructure with strong regulatory expertise to support international growth. By aligning on compliance, speed to market and operational excellence, we are well placed to help YeePay bring its high-quality payments services to more customers across our markets.”