China’s government indicated that it plans to end a monopoly in bank-card clearing from June, paving the way for companies such as MasterCard Inc and Visa Inc to get a foothold in an industry that handles US$73 trillion per year.
Rules published yesterday by the Chinese State Council allow for foreign firms to obtain licenses for such businesses by setting up units or acquiring local players. They take effect on June 1, China’s Cabinet said on its Web site.
China UnionPay Co (中國銀聯) has previously been the sole clearing service provider for yuan-denominated bank-card payments.
China’s market opening would represent a “huge opportunity” for US payment networks, FBR Capital Markets analyst Scott Valentin said in October last year, when the government indicated that it planned to end UnionPay’s monopoly.
The WTO told the Asian nation in 2012 to stop discriminating against foreign payment firms, a group that includes American Express Co.
China had 4.9 billion bank cards at the end of last year, according to the central bank. The value of credit and debit card transactions totaled 449.9 trillion yuan (US$72.6 trillion) last year, it said in a statement yesterday, adding that about 48 percent of retail sales were paid through bank cards, up from 4.7 percent in 2002.
Extra competition will mean better service and more convenience for consumers, the People’s Bank of China said.
Under the rules, institutions applying for clearing licenses must have at least 1 billion yuan of registered capital. Foreign firms must set up Chinese units and get licenses if they provide such services for domestic clients.
The State Council said that, while a license is not required for firms clearing foreign currency-denominated cross-border transactions, overseas companies will need to register with Chinese banking regulators.
Established in 2002 in Shanghai by the State Council and the central bank with shareholders including major Chinese banks, UnionPay has more than 4.6 billion bank cards in circulation, with a network across more than 150 countries, according to its Web site.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
RSS