The central bank issued another 19 payment licenses

Reporter sliding Mingfei Shanghai reported

On the evening of July 15, the central bank announced the issuance of the fifth batch of third-party payment licenses and the approval of 19 enterprises, together with the licenses previously issued. At present, there are 269 enterprises that have third-party payment qualifications.

Of the 19 enterprises approved, 8 are from Guangdong, 3 from Beijing, 3 from Shandong, and 1 from Chongqing, Hubei, Guangxi, Shaanxi and Xinjiang. A former third-party payment agency executive said that from the regional point of view, the central bank began to balance the payments in underdeveloped areas. Licensing companies previously issued mainly concentrated in the coastal areas and several major developed provinces and cities in the Mainland.

Currently, third-party payment services do have some regional restrictions. 21st Century Business Herald reporter found that 19 companies, 14 of the business coverage of the country, including Guangdong Sheng Di Jia e-commerce, Shandong Feiyu smart, Shandong Yunda e-commerce, Xinjiang Card Service and Xi'an City Card The five companies are limited to the province (autonomous region).

The executives said the division of coverage of the business is based on the third-party payment business itself and the risk control considerations. He said that the regional third-party payment enterprises can register a capital of 30 million yuan, while companies operating nationwide business require 100 million yuan of registered capital and require that national enterprises have branches nationwide.

At the same time, the central bank also provides for the payment type of third-party payment agencies. It is understood that currently divided into bank card receipt, prepaid card issuance and acceptance, Internet payment, mobile phone payment, landline payment and digital TV payment category. Six of the 19 enterprises approved for bank card acceptance, three received pre-paid card issuance and acceptance qualifications, six were qualified for mobile phone payment and one (Shenzhen Unicom) received digital television payment Qualification (Shenzhen Guo Cai payment) to obtain fixed-line payment qualifications, while access to Internet payment qualifications as many as 13 enterprises.

Among them, Xunlian Zhi Fu, He Li Bao and Guo Cai payment are also received three payment types of qualification. At present, Alipay and TenPay, the country's largest third-party payment instrument, receive only four qualifications at most. One of Tenpay's bank card receipt business is also an increase in the issuance of the license.

The executives said the increase in the number of payment licenses will inevitably affect the UnionPay. For example, a bank card acquiring institution, before a number of third-party payment agencies have eroded the UnionPay market online POS machines. Although some enterprises still rely on UnionPay clearing channels, they are also directly connected with major banks.

As for the current internet payment and mobile phone payment promoted by UnionPay, Alipay and TenPay already have the top two positions in the market. The acquisition of Internet payment qualifications by 13 enterprises will aggravate the competition in this area. The executives said Internet payments require scenario support, while Alipay accounts for the largest market for eCommerce businesses, while others are more vertically integrated with their businesses, such as online payments among small businesses.

In addition, it is worth noting that as the SAFE promulgates the "Guiding Opinion on Pilot Payment Institutions' Cross-border E-commerce Foreign Exchange Payment Business," more and more third-party payment enterprises will also engage in the foreign exchange payment business.