The People’s Bank of China said in a statement that foreign players who apply for payment licenses will receive the same treatment as local companies. Applicants must set up local units, establish payment infrastructure -- including disaster recovery systems -- and store client information domestically, the central bank added.
Entrants to the Chinese markets will have to comply with stiff local regulations and compete with more than 260 companies that hold payment licenses, Ant Financial and Tencent being among them.
China’s payment companies processed 169 trillion yuan (USD 27 trillion) of transactions in 2017, a nine-fold surge from 2013, according to the central bank.
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