The opening of China's bank card clearing market has reached a new milestone. The People's Bank of China announced on October 13 that it has issued an administrative licensing decision to Visa Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Visa Company"), approving it to prepare a bank card clearing institution.
According to reports, Visa Company is a corporate entity established in China by Visa Inc., and is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise. This means that following China UnionPay, UnionPay Connect Company [now American Express (Shanghai) Company], and Mastercard NetsUnion, China will add another licensed bank card clearing institution.
It is understood that unlike UnionPay Connect and Mastercard NetsUnion, which held Sino-foreign joint venture status when they were approved, Visa is applying to prepare a bank card clearing institution in the form of a wholly foreign-owned enterprise this time. Industry observers believe this further demonstrates the breadth and depth of China's financial market opening, is conducive to promoting diversified and multi-tiered development of the bank card clearing market, and enriches the supply of domestic payment services.
First Wholly Foreign-Owned Clearing Institution Approved for Preparation
Visa is one of the major card networks and clearing networks globally, and has been operating in China for more than 40 years. Official data shows that Visa's payment network currently covers more than 200 countries and regions worldwide, connects approximately 175 million merchants, and serves over 4.9 billion cardholders.
According to public information, Visa was one of the earlier overseas card networks to apply to the People's Bank of China for establishing a bank card clearing institution, and did so in the form of a wholly foreign-owned enterprise. As the other two overseas card networks, American Express and Mastercard, had their domestic entities UnionPay Connect and Mastercard NetsUnion licensed in 2020 and 2023 respectively, market attention on Visa's review and preparation progress has increased.
An industry insider told Yicai that the above process precisely reflects the characteristics of China's financial market opening progressing gradually and deepening step by step, opening up space for international companies to further participate in the Chinese market under the established regulatory framework.
"For more than 40 years, Visa has always actively participated in the development of China's payment industry and has continuously contributed to the construction and innovative development of China's payment ecosystem. Visa's approval to prepare a bank card clearing institution is an important milestone in Visa's long-term commitment to serving the Chinese market. We look forward to actively carrying out follow-up work in accordance with the relevant regulatory provisions of the People's Bank of China, so as to strive to commence operations in China as soon as possible," Visa CEO Ryan McInerney told Yicai, adding that the Chinese market is of great strategic importance to Visa.
The reporter noted that McInerney has visited China twice this year. According to the People's Bank of China, on May 15, PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng met with McInerney and exchanged views on topics including China-US economic and trade relations and Visa's development in China. In September, he led a USCBC board delegation to China in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of the US-China Business Council (USCBC).
"Visa has always been full of confidence in China's development prospects, optimistic about the long-term potential of the Chinese economy and payment market, and has always regarded itself as a steadfast partner of the Chinese market," he said.
In recent years, business innovation in China's payment and clearing sector has been continuous, making it one of the most active markets for digital payment innovation globally. In the view of market participants, Visa's wholly-owned entity being approved to enter China's clearing market is significant not only for China's financial market opening; as preparation work advances and the necessary approvals for conducting domestic business are obtained in accordance with the law, more diverse market participation and payment services are expected to further enhance payment convenience, drive product and service innovation through competition and cooperation, better connect domestic consumption, cross-border consumption, and inbound consumption scenarios, and provide new impetus for unleashing consumption potential and expanding high-level opening.
In January of this year, Visa became the first to support Chinese cardholders in linking eligible Visa cards to Apple Pay, and enabled payments through Apple Pay at offline, in-app, and online scenarios of overseas Visa-accepting merchants, becoming the first international card network to support this function. Currently, 13 major commercial banks have participated. Previously, Apple Pay in China mainly supported linking UnionPay-branded cards. According to the reporter's understanding, this breakthrough was the result of joint efforts by Visa, Apple, issuing banks, and other parties, and also involved the local deployment and application of technical capabilities such as payment tokenization.
In April, Mastercard and Mastercard NetsUnion also jointly announced that Mastercard-branded bank cards issued in China officially support cardholders in using Apple Pay for cross-border transaction payments, and this has now been implemented at six banks including Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and China CITIC Bank.
Bank Card Clearing Market Opening Continues to Deepen
The operational process of bank card business mainly includes card issuance, acquiring, and clearing, involving cardholders, issuing institutions, acquiring institutions, clearing institutions, and contracted merchants (accepting merchants), among other entities. Under current regulations, a bank card clearing institution refers to an enterprise legal person that has been approved to obtain a bank card clearing business license in accordance with the law and specializes in bank card clearing business. Overseas institutions that only provide foreign currency bank card clearing services for cross-border transactions may, in principle, not establish bank card clearing institutions within China.
Previously, Visa could authorize domestic acquiring institutions or cooperate with domestic bank card clearing institutions in China to enable bank cards issued overseas to be used domestically, or authorize domestic issuing institutions to issue foreign currency bank cards restricted to overseas use, but it could not issue Visa-branded RMB bank cards, nor could it provide RMB bank card clearing services for domestic entities.
The PBOC's latest administrative licensing decision means that if Visa Company successfully completes preparation and obtains a license, Visa will obtain a "pass" to conduct RMB bank card clearing business within China. However, according to regulatory requirements, Visa Company must complete preparation work within one year, after which it may submit an opening application. After approval by the People's Bank of China in conjunction with the National Financial Regulatory Administration, a bank card clearing business license will be issued. During the preparation period, it may not engage in bank card clearing business.
In recent years, China's bank card industry has continued to develop, and the bank card clearing market has become increasingly mature, forming a pattern of diversified development and healthy competition. Currently, there are three licensed bank card clearing institutions in China: China UnionPay, American Express (Shanghai) Company, and Mastercard NetsUnion.
2015 was a relatively pivotal year in the development of China's bank card clearing market. The State Council issued the "Decision of the State Council on Implementing Access Management for Bank Card Clearing Institutions" (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision") that year, opening China's bank card clearing market and implementing market access management for bank card clearing institutions. The following year, the People's Bank of China and the former China Banking Regulatory Commission (now the National Financial Regulatory Administration) jointly issued the "Measures for the Administration of Bank Card Clearing Institutions" (hereinafter referred to as the original "Measures") as a supporting system for the "Decision," further clarifying the specific conditions, procedures, and main regulatory requirements for access by bank card clearing institutions.
After that, American Express entered China's bank card clearing market through a joint venture, becoming a landmark event in the opening of China's financial market. In November 2018, the PBOC announced that it had approved the preparation application of "UnionPay Connect (Hangzhou) Technology Services Co., Ltd." as a bank card clearing institution, and in June 2020 issued it a bank card clearing business license. After obtaining the license, UnionPay Connect could expand member institutions within China and authorize the issuance and acceptance of "American Express"-branded bank cards, thereby becoming the first licensed Sino-foreign joint venture bank card clearing institution in China.
UnionPay Connect is a joint venture established in China in 2017 by American Express and LianLian DigiTech, and it applied as a market entity to prepare a bank card clearing institution and operate the American Express brand. At that time, the PBOC stated that approving UnionPay Connect's preparation application was another concrete achievement in implementing the policy requirements of steadily expanding two-way opening of the financial industry, and was an important step in the opening of China's bank card market. Opening the bank card market is conducive to providing diversified and differentiated services to all parties in the industry, cultivating a fair competitive environment, building a reasonable and robust industrial structure, and improving the service level of China's bank card market.
During this period, in February 2020, the joint venture "Mastercard NetsUnion Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.," jointly established in China by Mastercard and NetsUnion Clearing Corporation, was also approved to prepare a bank card clearing institution. The latter obtained a bank card clearing business license in November 2023, becoming another concrete reflection of China's expansion of financial industry opening and deepening of financial supply-side reform.
In April 2025, the original "Measures" underwent an important revision, and the new document took effect on November 1 of the same year. Regarding the main management approach of the "Measures" toward bank card clearing institutions, the relevant responsible person of the PBOC mentioned three points when answering reporters' questions: first, adhere to the direction of the rule of law; second, adhere to high-level opening; third, adhere to coordinating development and security.
"The 'Measures' effectively connect with laws and regulations in the field of foreign investment, adhere to the same standards for similar institutions, further consolidate the institutional guarantee for the opening of the bank card clearing market, promote development through opening, promote the continuous improvement of clearing service levels, and better serve the overall situation of opening-up and the development of the real economy," said the relevant responsible person of the PBOC.
It is worth noting that as American Express obtained absolute controlling stake in 2025, UnionPay Connect was approved by the PBOC in May of this year to change its name to American Express (Shanghai) Bank Card Clearing Co., Ltd., and its headquarters was approved to relocate from Hangzhou to Shanghai and establish a Hangzhou branch.
The above-mentioned market insider said that in the past, Visa's advantages in China were mostly reflected in connecting Chinese consumers with global markets and international tourists with Chinese commercial scenarios; in the future, after completing the corresponding preparation and obtaining the approvals needed to conduct domestic business, this capability is expected to be further integrated with China's local payment ecosystem.
"After beginning domestic operations, Visa will have the opportunity to support domestic Chinese customers in issuing Visa-branded payment products that can be accepted within China, and further promote the development of China's digital payments," McInerney said. Visa looks forward to further bringing its globally leading innovation capabilities, security guarantees, and operational experience to the Chinese market, better serving Chinese consumers and corporate clients, and contributing to the continued innovation and development of China's payment industry.