Ant Group Co (螞蟻集團)-backed MYbank (網商銀行) is to join China’s digital yuan (e-CNY) trial, as the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) charges ahead with rolling out an electronic currency system that could uproot the nation’s payments landscape.
MYbank’s service is soon to be introduced to the central bank’s digital yuan app, people familiar said, requesting not to be identified because the matter is private.
Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊)-backed WeBank (微眾銀行) will also participate, one of the people said.
Photo: Aly Song, Reuters
The e-wallets from the two firms will have exactly the same functions as those from the six state-owned lenders in the trial, the person said.
Adding the two banks to the pilot would help the PBOC expand its influence and user coverage in its push to establish the first digital national currency from a major central bank.
When the PBOC first announced its plans, it was viewed by some as a government move to reclaim the 293 trillion yuan (US$45 trillion) payments industry from to Ant’s Alipay (支付寶) and Tencent’s WeChat Pay (微信支付).
As one of the parties participating in the research and development of China’s e-CNY, MYbank will “steadily advance the trial pursuant to the overall arrangement of the People’s Bank of China,” the company said in an e-mailed response without elaborating.
WeBank declined to comment in an e-mailed statement.
The PBOC did not immediately respond to a fax seeking comment.
In China, smart-phone-based electronic payments are ubiquitous, used for everything from bus-rides and convenience stores to vegetables at the local market — and 94 percent of those mobile transactions are controlled by the two firms.
Yet the tech giants are facing tougher times ahead under the government, which has already stepped up oversight of the fintech industry and unveiled tougher antitrust regulations for the Internet arena.
The digital yuan is being rolled out at a time when China is trying to curb monopolies in the payment space, potentially dealing a blow to Alipay and WeChat Pay’s growth.
Ant is the biggest shareholder in MYbank, owning a 30 percent stake. Tencent is the biggest stakeholder in WeBank, holding 30 percent.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in