American Express goes ahead into Chinas payments market

The Chinese central bank has given Amex preliminary approval to handle payments in yuan, starting 9 November 2018. The company can now start setting up the payments network through a joint venture with LianLian Group, its Chinese partner.

In China, Amex, Mastercard and Visa can only issue co-branded cards, in partnership with UnionPay. The cards use UnionPay’s network for yuan payments in China, and the US companies’ networks for payments abroad in dollars or other foreign currencies. With the new partnership, Amex has now a chance at taking some of UnionPay’s business inside China.

Mastercard and Visa are also looking for permission to build their own networks after China started letting foreign card companies apply for licences in 2017. Mastercard has also formed a partnership with several Chinese entities for its China application, while Visa applied to form a wholly owned entity to operate in China.