中国放开银行卡清算市场

An announcement by the State Council, China&`&s cabinet, on April 22 set out preliminary requirements for companies who want to handle bank card clearing services in China. This effectively declared that businesses other than Unionpay, which currently holds a monopoly over card clearing, can start operating services for yuan-denominated bank card payments. Starting from June 1, companies will be able to submit an application to the central bank, which will consult with the banking regulator and decide whether to approve it within 90 days. This means that foreign companies like Visa and MasterCard will be allowed to apply for a license to start running clearing services for payments in yuan. For years, they have been locked out of the Chinese market by the Unionpay monopoly, something for which the World Trade Organization warned China in 2012 to remedy by August this year. In an interview with Caixin, Chang Qing, head of MasterCard China, said he thought that, in the future, MasterCard will compete with UnionPay in the market, but will maintain a cooperative relationship. When asked what obstacles he expected there to be, he confidently said that no barriers can exist in the face of the government&`&s determination to open up the market and transform the country&`&s economic structure. The announcement also added information on application processing and approval times for new card clearing businesses, which showed that a business will realistically be able to set up in less than two years from the date of application. For Caixin Online, this is Nikolai Blackie 4月22日，国务院公布了《国务院关于实施银行卡清算机构准入管理的决定》，并将于6月1日起实行。该文件的下发意味着，中国的银行卡清算市场终于放开，银联将不再一家独大。 按照《决定》的定义，银行卡清算业务，是指通过制定银行卡清算标准和规则，运营银行卡清算业务系统，授权发行和受理本银行卡清算机构品牌的银行卡，并为发卡机构和收单机构提供其品牌银行卡的机构间交易处理服务，协助完成资金结算的活动。 “之前在中国只有银联能干这个事儿，现在等于把银联干的事儿放开了。”业内人士表示。 按照《决定》的标准，国际卡组织、国内第三方支付机构、银行等，都有条件申请。 万事达卡和VISA两家国际卡组织机构一直为进入中国市场积极沟通。万事达卡中国区总裁常青在该文件下发当日接受了财新记者记者的独家专访，他表示，万事达卡一定会申请牌照，从事中国境内的人民币清算业务。