2012 was A Big Year for Chinese Independent Payments Services

image credit: CFP 

It turns out 2012 was a big year for the payments market in China. Banks rolled out new payments offerings, telecom operators tapped into mobile payments sector and e-commerce services were building their own payment solutions, etc. More contributions or innovations, however, are from independent payments services, as results of 1) conventional enterprises or organizations came to need third-party payments services for e-commerce transactions or other needs; 2) mobile payments applications enlarge the market; 3) new payments solutions created for insurance, mutual funds, education, international payments, and so on; 4) new payments tools such as Square-like devices and QR code. Below are some examples:

Also the entry bar is lowered that obtaining a license isn’t so difficult as that in some other sectors in China. The Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has issued a total of 223 payments licenses to private non-financial companies from May 2011 to 2012. The allowed services cover national and local payments services, pre-paid cards, digital TV payment solutions and payments for mutual funds. It is perceived that the authorities are open to the payments market. Some companies think the market is better organized thanks to regulations like issuing licenses.

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