This would finally allow other companies such as MasterCard and Visa to tap the Chinese market and offer their services to consumers.
Currently, UnionPay is the only clearing service provider for CNY-denominated bank-card payments. In 2012, the World Trade Organization told the Asian nation to stop discriminating against foreign payment companies, a group of companies that also included American Express. The UnionPay’s rules, along with those requiring all Chinese automated teller machines and merchants to use its network, had prompted the WTO to make this move.
According to FBR Capital Markets analyst Scott Valentin, cited by online media outlet BusinessWeek, China’s market opening would represent a ‘huge opportunity’ for US payment networks.
Established in 2002 in Shanghai by the State Council and the central bank, UnionPay has more than 3.8 billion bank cards in circulation. In 2013, bank-card transactions increased 48% to CNY 32.2 trillion (USD 5.3 trillion) in China.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now
We welcome comments that add value to the discussion. We attempt to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam, and our editors frequently review the comments to ensure they are appropriate. If you see a comment that you believe is inappropriate to the discussion, you can bring it to our attention by using the report abuse links. As the comments are written and submitted by visitors of the The Paypers website, they in no way represent the opinion of The Paypers.