China’s central bank to raise reserve funds ratio of third-party payment firms to 50% — Reuters — “China’s central bank said it will gradually raise the reserve funds ratio of third-party payment firms to 50% by April 2018 from a current rate of 20%, as it continues to ramp up regulation of the industry… It will eventually ban non-bank payment firms from making any private investments with money deposited by users, which would see the reserve rate at some point increased to 100%.”
People's Bank of China (PBOC)
Chinese ride hailing giant Didi Chuxing enters the payments market
Didi Chuxing picks up a payment license — Caixin — “Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing company, is speeding into the payments business, acquiring a much-coveted license to join the red-hot internet financial-services arena. Didi has agreed to fully acquire third-party payment-services provider 19Pay for 300m yuan (US$45.4m)… Last year, the PBOC said it would control the number of third-party payment licenses issued, making it increasingly difficult to get a license.”
UnionPay details its mobile payment app for China’s banks
Unified app of China’s banking industry, ‘Mobile QuickPass’ officially launches today — China UnionPay — “The ‘Mobile QuickPass’ app is a unified mobile payment portal jointly developed and maintained by commercial banks and UnionPay, under the guidance of the People’s Bank of China. Customers are able to link their bank cards to the app, manage different bank accounts, and enjoy the mobile payment services and benefits offered by each bank. The services offered by this app also include UnionPay QR code payment, signing up for various mobile payment solutions, comprehensive credit card services, P2P real-time transfer and payment services in various scenarios.”
China targets mobile payments oligopoly with clearing mandate
China targets mobile payments oligopoly with clearing mandate — Financial Times — “China’s central bank has ordered online payment groups to operate through a centralised clearing house, a move likely to undercut the dominance of Ant Financial and Tencent by forcing them to share valuable transaction data with competitors… The latest PBoC instructions require all payment companies to connect to the clearing house by October 15 and to channel all payments through it by June 30.”
China’s central bank tests digital currency for in-store payments
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has conducted trial runs of a prototype cryptocurrency it has been developing since 2014 that could be used “to buy anything from noodles to a car”, The Straits Times reports... More
Chinese third-party payment providers face client cash regulation
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is to ban third-party payment providers, such as Alibaba-owned Alipay, from using their clients’ money, China Daily reports... More
PBoC reports on China mobile payments market
The number of mobile payments made in China have grown 10% year on year since 2013, according to the People’s Bank of China (PBoC)... More
PBOC working to regulate QR code mobile payments in China
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is working to create a system for regulating QR code mobile payments in the country, after it suspended QR code-based services run by third-party payment providers in March 2014... More
ARM includes AMS NFC payments booster in wearables reference design
PARTNER NEWS: A new reference design for wearables from processor designer ARM includes high-performance NFC technology from AMS that enables small-footprint devices with tiny antennas to couple with NFC readers as easily and reliably as a contactless card... More
LG U+ to issue UnionPay mobile credit cards in China
Korean mobile network operator LG U+ will issue UnionPay mobile credit cards and payment services in China, in partnership with KB Kookmin Card, from next month... More
China moves to open up mobile payments services
People’s Bank of China has proposed new regulations that could force internet companies Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu to offer each others’ online payment services alongside their own... More
NXP offers pre-validated NFC mPOS module
PARTNER NEWS: An mPOS module that provides developers with “a complete hardware and software reference demonstrator for secure near field communication enabled mobile point of sale solutions” has been developed by NXP in partnership with Creditcall and ViewAt Technology... More
Brightwire: Apple signs mobile payments deal with China UnionPay
“Apple is likely to incorporate a near field communication (NFC) payment function in the next generation iPhone and has reached an agreement with China UnionPay on a mobile payment service,” investment newswire Brightwire reports, citing “a source close to the matter”... More