Abstract:
Today, the central bank announced on its official website that it had issued an administrative licensing decision to VISA, approving its preparation of a bank card clearing agency. Subsequently, Visa Company needs to complete the preparatory work within one year, and then it can submit an application for opening. The People's Bank of China, together with the State Administration of Financial Supervision, will issue a bank card clearing business license after approval.
Visa Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. is a corporate legal person established by Visa in my country.
Authoritative experts said that the visa company's preparatory license was a positive move to serve my country's high-level opening up to the outside world. As the world's major bank card clearing institution, Visa's entry into the Chinese market will help promote the diversified development of my country's bank card clearing market. It will also help further optimize the domestic and foreign card usage environment and improve the payment experience of foreigners coming to China.
Currently, there are three licensed bank card clearing institutions in my country: China UnionPay, Express Corporation (the domestic entity of American Express), and MasterNet (the domestic entity of MasterCard).
The bank card clearing market is further opened and the level of financial opening up is continuously improved
Since my country implemented bank card clearing market access management, the central bank has successively approved the issuance of bank card clearing business licenses to relevant domestic entities such as American Express and MasterCard, promoting the deepening of the opening of the bank card clearing market.
Today, the central bank issued an administrative licensing decision to Visa Company, approving it to prepare a bank card clearing agency. Subsequently, Visa Company needs to complete the preparatory work within one year, and then it can submit an application for opening. The People's Bank of China, together with the State Administration of Financial Supervision, will issue a bank card clearing business license after approval.
It is understood that Visa Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. is a corporate legal person established by Visa in my country and is a foreign-invested enterprise. Authoritative experts pointed out that approving Visa's preparatory application is a positive step for my country's financial industry to open up to the outside world, and reflects my country's determination and confidence to unswervingly promote high-level opening up to the outside world.
"Recently, the China-U.S. Presidential Meeting reached an eight-point consensus on outcomes, and China-U.S. economic and trade consultations have made positive progress, with the two sides seeking pragmatic cooperation in multiple areas. Visa's obtaining the preparatory license is another substantive result of my country's opening up of financial services. It is a concrete measure to implement the results of the Sino-U.S. economic and trade consultations under the guidance of the China-U.S. Presidential Meeting," the above-mentioned experts said.
A bank card clearing institution refers to an enterprise legal person that has obtained a bank card clearing business license in accordance with the law in my country and specializes in bank card clearing business. The bank card clearing business mainly includes authorizing the issuance and acceptance of bank cards of the bank card clearing agency brand, operating bank card payment infrastructure, and processing bank card transactions between card issuers and acquirers.
It is understood that as the world's major bank card clearing institution, Visa's entry into the Chinese market will help promote the diversified and multi-level development of my country's bank card clearing market, enrich the supply of domestic payment services, and build a more complete and efficient payment service system. At the same time, Visa's professional accumulation in the field of cross-border payments will also help further optimize the domestic and foreign card usage environment, improve the payment experience of foreigners coming to China, and promote cultural exchanges and economic and trade exchanges between my country and other countries around the world.
It should be noted that according to current laws and regulations, those who only provide foreign currency bank card clearing services for cross-border transactions do not need to establish a bank card clearing agency in the country in principle. Therefore, Visa has long provided cross-border transaction clearing services for foreign currency bank cards in my country.
This means that domestic residents can use Visa-branded foreign currency bank cards overseas, or overseas residents can use Visa-branded foreign currency bank cards domestically. Before Visa obtains a bank card clearing business license, it cannot issue Visa-branded RMB bank cards domestically and cannot provide RMB bank card clearing services to domestic entities.
The intergenerational transition of domestic payment methods creates healthy competition in bank card clearing
Internationally, bank cards are one of the mainstream non-cash payment tools. Global bank card clearing institutions such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and China UnionPay maintain a steady development trend. Some emerging markets are also vigorously developing local bank card brands. By the end of 2025, the number of major global bank cards in circulation will exceed 19 billion.
From a domestic perspective, my country's payment methods have experienced an intergenerational transition in recent years. Bank cards have migrated from physical cards to contactless (NFC) payment and cardless payment. Mobile payment represented by barcode payment has become rapidly popular, and payment methods have become increasingly diversified. Bank card clearing institutions play a fundamental role in the payment system. By connecting card issuers and acquirers, they extend the payment network to cardholders and merchants and are an important support for payment service innovation.
At present, the supervision of bank card clearing institutions has evolved from "license access" to "full-process supervision", and a relatively complete management system for bank card clearing institutions has been established. In 2015, the State Council issued the "Decision on Implementing Access Management of Bank Card Clearing Institutions" to open up my country's bank card clearing market. In 2016, the People's Bank of China, together with the former China Banking Regulatory Commission, issued the "Administrative Measures for Bank Card Clearing Institutions" as a supporting system for the "Decision", which clarified the conditions, procedures and basic business principles for the administrative licensing of bank card clearing institutions. In 2025, the People's Bank of China, together with the State Administration of Financial Supervision, revised and promulgated a new version of the "Management Measures for Bank Card Clearing Institutions", adhering to "the front-end can be liberalized and the back-end can be controlled", and the full-process post-access supervision mechanism has been improved to effectively prevent related business risks.
Since the State Council decided to implement access management for bank card clearing institutions in 2015, there are currently three licensed bank card clearing institutions in China: China UnionPay, Express Company (the domestic entity of American Express), and Mastercard (the domestic entity of MasterCard). A pattern of diversified development and healthy competition in my country's bank card clearing market has gradually taken shape.
It is understood that in terms of access conditions, applicants should have a registered capital of no less than 1 billion yuan, and their investors should meet conditions such as asset size, business experience, and profitability. At the same time, applicants should also meet bank card clearing standards, infrastructure and off-site disaster recovery system construction, directors and senior managers, internal control, risk prevention, information security, and anti-money laundering measures. In terms of access procedures, the access procedure for bank card clearing institutions is divided into two steps: first, the institution submits a preparatory application, and the People's Bank of China will take the lead in reviewing and approving it, and then issue a license for preparation; second, after the institution is approved, it must complete preparations within one year, and then it can submit an application for opening, and after the People's Bank of China takes the lead in approving and agreeing, it will issue a bank card clearing business license.
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