Rumor: China to Issue Fifth Batch of Third-Party Payment Licenses
Ebrun, 10/25/12
A source close to the People's Bank of China (PBoC) revealed today that the PBoC will issue as many as 100 licenses in the fifth round of third-party payment licenses for non-financial organizations, which it will issue late this year. Companies not previously granted licenses all stand a chance of receiving licenses in the new round, the source said.
Since May 27, 2011, the PBoC has issued third-party payment licenses to a total of 197 companies in five announcements. The fifth of these pertained only to Qingdao-based payment card company Buytop, and was widely seen as supplemental to the fourth round of licenses - making the upcoming round the "real" fifth round of licenses.
According to the source, the scope of operations for fifth-round license recipients will be further tightened. Among the restrictions, the source said, will be prepaid card services: fifth-round license recipients will mainly be local, rather than national-level operators.
The four batches of licenses issued by the PBoC to date have covered businesses in the seven categories of currency exchange, online payment, mobile phone and fixed-line payment, digital TV payment, pre-paid cards (issuing and processing), and bank card order processing.
According to analysts, future stages of industry development will see mergers and acquisitions between payment companies, with synergies to be achieved through combinations of different categories of businesses.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "China Issues Fourth Batch of Third-Party Payment Licenses" MD 6/29/12 issue.
Keywords: regulation Internet license People's Bank of China fixed-line payment third-party payment online payment e-payment
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