The bank-monopolized payment market suddenly added nearly 200 third party payment companies

Abstract: Who can imagine that in just 1.5 of the time, the bank monopoly of the payment market suddenly increased by nearly 200 third-party payment enterprises. This is not just a change in numbers. This year, a variety of strange and quirky payment experiences abound: if you dine at a café

Who would have guessed that, in just 1.5 of the time, the bank-monopolized payment market suddenly added nearly 200 third-party payment companies.

This is not just a change in numbers. This year, a variety of strange and quirky payment experiences have emerged: if you eat in a café, you find that you forget to bring cash, so long as you shake a mobile phone, you can pay; if you find the right merchandise on the plane ads in the elevator, just scan the bar code with your mobile phone, and you'll be able to buy the goods and wait for the door-to-door delivery.

Industry insiders jokingly, 2012 is the third party to pay the "innovation year"-and the source of innovation, it is the influx of third-party payment enterprises to survive the instinctive demand. With the rapid development of third party payment enterprises, commercial banks feel the pressing spirit of "little brother" in the payment field. But at the same time, some irregularities have attracted the attention of regulators.

Innovative payments are endless

With the development of electronic commerce in recent years, the scale of third party payment market expands rapidly. 2011 China's third-party internet payment market has doubled in size compared to 2010, according to data from Research Institute Analysys International (Enfodesk). Reached 2.16 trillion yuan, in addition, in the third quarter of 2012, China's third party internet payment market transaction size has reached 976.4 billion yuan, an increase of 73%, the first three quarters of this year, the cumulative volume of transactions over the last year.

In the third quarter of the transaction size, Alipay, Tenpay, banking on the network to pay, fast money, remit the world and Yeepay pay for the market share of the top 6 of the third party payment enterprises, a total of 94.4% of the share. The 6 companies were also the first to receive business licences in 2011. However, in the nearly 1.5 time, the total number of licensed enterprises rapidly increased by nearly 200, originally by the bank monopoly of the payment market suddenly more than No. 200 people grab the "cake." Some large third-party payment companies are starting to break through, and many novel and quirky innovative payment models are entering the limelight.

At the end of July this year, Alipay launched a mobile phone "shake" can allow strangers to quickly realize the payment of small money transfer products. Previously, transfer generally required through the bank counters, ATMs (ATM), net bank or mobile banking to achieve, and this service only need to shake a user to shake the phone with Alipay software, you can automatically sense to each other's Alipay account, input transfer amount can be real-time to account.

"This is the latest development in the payment industry, which focuses on a variety of new technologies, including Global Positioning System (GPS) positioning, Bluetooth, and gravitational acceleration sensors." Omit the account input process, pay faster than the original more than one times. "At the beginning of the September Guangzhou Media Communication Conference, Alipay merchants to customers (business), deputy general manager of the Li Chengkang side excited to explain, while impatient to take out the phone for reporters to demonstrate.

If you go for coffee and forget to bring money, ask your boss if you have a PayPal account on your phone. "Li Chengkang said.

Coincidentally, in mid-September this year, Tenpay general manager Rei Zhiming said in Beijing, the future tenpay can be with micro-letter "Shake" function, with micro-letter transfer directly to friends, the payment model is very suitable for friends out of dinner, KTV and other collective activities of "AA system" payment occasions; And the combination of micro-letter two-dimensional code scanning and payment can realize "buy and sell", for example, in the elevator to see a nearby restaurant hot sale ads, users just use the micro-letter on the phone scan ads on the two-dimensional code, access to merchandise information, and then fill out the payment password, you can complete the purchase.

"Mobile payments will be the highlight of future industry innovation. "In Asia, the number of smartphone users is growing quite quickly, and mobile payments can connect online payments and offline purchases, and have great market potential," said Guoguang, CEO of the fast-money CEO. He revealed that the current fast money has been formed including mobile phone voice payment, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) gateway payment, such as the full mobile phone payment system, the future will also introduce more innovative payment products.

Reporters noted that this year's mainstream third-party payment companies are high-profile launch of innovative products. Many people in the industry jokingly, if 2011 is the third party to pay the "certificate year", then 2012 is the third party to pay the "innovation year."

The four directions of innovation

Securities Times reporter survey found that the payment industry this year mainly in four directions to increase innovation efforts: first, the rapid development of payment, after Alipay, UnionPay, Tenpay, fast money, remit the world and so on also accelerated the promotion of fast payment, and the second is mobile payment (ie, through mobile phones, such as payment) innovation intensified, Third quarter Alipay launched based on two-dimensional code scanning and "shake" to pay the mobile payment products, Tenpay is a combination of micro-letter layout "micro-life" payment; third, increase the line of Sales point Information Management System (POS) receipts market expansion, especially the world has been in more than 30 cities set up branch offices, Through the agent mode to speed up the distribution of the market; four is to enter the fund to pay the market intensified, in May this year, 3 Third-party payment Enterprises received the fund to pay the licence, so that the number of third-party payment enterprises to obtain the license increased to 7.

So where are the innovative drivers of third-party pay companies this year? The Securities Times reporter survey learned that this comes mainly from three aspects, one is the pressure of price war, the second is the support and encouragement of the regulatory department, and the third is emerging market after the industry subdivision.

First, in the short period of 1.5 years since May 2011, the central bank has issued 5 batches of third party payment licenses consecutively, and the total number of licensed enterprises has soared from 27 in the first instalment to nearly 200. The types of business for which payment licences are granted include internet payments, telephone payments, bank card receipts, prepaid cards, etc., in which Internet payments are the mainstream business.

According to Chen Dawei, director of Alipay Pay Research Institute, due to the domestic e-commerce enterprises and individual merchants profit margins are shrinking, forcing them to choose to pay the enterprise more concerned about the pay rate, so the Third-party payment Enterprise price war is very fierce.

Analysys International analyst Meng to the Securities Times reporter that in the core competitiveness is not obvious, the business homogeneity of the situation, the Third-party payment enterprises mainly by lowering prices to obtain customers, Alipay and other enterprises realize that the price war is not a long-term solution, must rely on innovative business breakthrough.

Second, regulators have repeatedly called on third parties to pay companies to innovate under risk control. Last December, Liu, deputy governor of the central bank, said in public that under the new situation, the payment clearing industry should further strengthen self-discipline management, vigorously promote payment innovation, and effectively prevent the payment risk.

Guoguang said that the central bank issued payment license to pay the enterprise "rectification", so that the industry from the previous uncertainty into the rational development phase, enterprises began to consider the development of pragmatic issues, innovation is the inevitable path to development.

Industry insiders said that as the payment industry further subdivided, the needs of different types of customers also promote innovation. "At present, online shopping, aviation, games and other traditional internet payment market segments have been divided by third-party payment Enterprises, funds, education, cross-border payments and other emerging payment market to be excavated." "Meng said.

The initial threat to the bank

As the scale of third party payment gradually expands and innovation business increases, commercial banks gradually feel the pressing spirit of "little brother" in the payment field.

Generally, banks provide deposits, loans, remittances three services, and other traditional financial services, and third-party payment enterprises have gradually infiltrated the bank's "sinks" and "loans" of the two services: the current Alipay and tenpay, such as the introduction of micro-transfer remittance services; quick money into the information financial services sector, Acted as a factoring role in supply chain finance to help SMEs get financing.

In addition, the securities times in July this year reported that Alibaba's affiliated enterprises, Alipay Brother Enterprise Ali Microfinance Company, to the user in the Alipay transaction data as a reference for the review of lending, Taobao and cat users to issue credit loans, a single day interest income of more than 1 million yuan.

"Third-party payments have developed very quickly, and they have the technical and talent advantages of networking, and there are people in the industry who worry that they will rob some of the bank's business in the future." "Zongliang, deputy general manager of China's Strategic Planning department and deputy director of the Institute of International Finance, said to reporters.

A joint-stock bank, Mr Shao said that the current third-party payment of business volume and market share does not threaten the survival of the bank, but the rapid development of technology, perhaps the future third-party payments will be with the bank to rob jobs.

However, some people in the industry believe that the competition is not so obvious. Guoguang that the third party payment enterprise is an effective supplement to the traditional banking business, the relationship between commercial banks and the information-based financial service providers like fast money, like the relationship between China Telecom and Internet enterprises 10 years ago, the former do infrastructure construction, the latter creates demand on its basis.

Meng said that while banks and third parties paid a portion of their business overlap, but from the current relationship, there is more cooperation than competition: on the one hand, in the gateway payment, the third party payment reduces the bank to deal with a large number of transactions burden; On the other hand, in the account-type payment, the deposit on the third party's account will need to be managed by the bank, Equivalent to providing considerable savings.

"Banks are still willing to work with a number of third-party payers as long as they can make payment facilities available to bank card users." "Guo, director of the China Banking Research Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

However, even if innovation in third-party payments increases the efficiency of payments, there are many risks and irregularities that have been brought to the attention of regulators, and industry norms are gradually being put on the agenda.

At the end of August this year, at the fourth instalment of the risk management work of the Organization, the central bank's pay and clearing division was informed of the risk of the third party payment industry, including: The fund management has a large risk of risks, bank card receipts business irregularities prominent, the payment agencies internal control risk management capacity is insufficient The payment institution is free to carry out the so-called innovation business, break through the type and scope of business, evade supervision, and not standardize the business cooperation such as prepaid card. This is the third party payment has been formally included in the regulation for more than a year, the central bank for the first time to summarize and inform the third party to pay the risk of third-party payment agencies, the emerging industry sounded the alarm.

"In order to standardize third party payments in this emerging industry, regulators have recently introduced policies that include purchasing prepaid cards, which embodies a regulatory approach to congestion, which cannot be understood as a way to curb innovation in third-party payments and should encourage payment of technological innovation." "Zongliang said.