Visa receives approval to prepare domestic card-clearing business in China
publishers 16articles 17first reported 13 Oct, 03:52 UTCdeveloping since 13 Oct · 7 editions
China’s central bank has approved Visa to begin preparations for a locally registered bank-card clearing organization, advancing the U.S. payments company’s effort to process domestic transactions in China.
The People’s Bank of China said Tuesday that Visa will have one year to complete its preparatory work. The company may then apply for permission to begin operations. If that application is approved, Visa would be able to settle domestic yuan transactions directly through its own network.
Visa called the decision “an important milestone” toward serving China’s domestic payments market. Chief executive Ryan McInerney said the company, which has worked in China for more than 40 years, would take the steps required under central bank regulations to begin operating domestically.
Visa previously said it applied in May 2020 to operate a bank-card clearing institution in China. Its cards issued with Chinese banks have generally relied on state-owned UnionPay to process transactions inside the country, while Visa handled overseas payments.
Other U.S. payment companies have already received permission to enter the domestic clearing market. American Express secured a processing license for its Chinese joint venture in 2020, while Mastercard received approval for its venture in 2023 and began processing payments in 2024.
The central bank described Visa’s approval as a major step in China’s financial opening. The decision concerns preparations only; Visa must receive additional approval before starting domestic clearing operations.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 4 with the publisher's own text; 7 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 6 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 16
- Source articles
- 17
- Given to the writer
- 8, 4 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 7
- This version written
- 6 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
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