Rumor: China Encourages Cross-Border Third-Party Payment Trials
Oriental Morning Post, 3/26/13
According to an informed source, related Chinese government departments have released documents encouraging Chinese third-party payment services to apply for cross-border payment service trials. Chinese third-party payment platforms licensed for online payment are qualified to apply for the trials.
The first stage of the trials will be conducted in Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Zhejiang, and Shenzhen, and may begin as early as 2013. Cross-border payment trial applicants will be required to first apply through their local State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), and upon receiving approval from local SAFE offices, undergo another round of approval procedures from national SAFE offices to participate in the trials.
There will be no time period-specific transaction value limits placed on trial cross-border third-party payment users, but trial customers will be limited to a per-transaction payment limit of USD 10,000.
China's third-party payment cross-border transaction trials will be primarily made up of third-party payment platforms serving the e-commerce industry. The trials aim to allow China-based online shoppers to make purchases with foreign currencies by simply paying with RMB through a domestic third-party payment provider. While foreign exchange third-party payment transactions are currently required to be undertaken through partnerships with banks or foreign third-party payment services, the upcoming trials will mark the first time that China's third-party payment platforms will be allowed to independently handle all aspects of foreign exchange payment.
Keywords: e-commerce foreign exchange Internet third-party payment online payment State Administration of Foreign Exchange e-payment trial
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