Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- This regulation is about non-bank payments, let's take a look at the key contents.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Yu.
On May 17, the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Non-bank Payment Institutions were officially promulgated and will come into force on May 1, 2024. This administrative regulation further brings non-bank payment institutions and their business activities into the track of rule of law for supervision
Key point 1: **The first administrative regulations in the financial field issued after the financial work conference.
In recent years, China's non-bank payment business has played an important role in the field of small-value and convenient payment, and mobile payment ranks at the world's leading level, effectively helping the development of the real economy and improving people's livelihood.
The reporter learned from the People's Bank of China that as of the end of September 2023, there are 185 non-bank payment institutions in China. At present, the annual transaction volume of non-bank payment institutions exceeds 1 trillion yuan and the amount is nearly 400 trillion yuan, accounting for about 8% and 1% of the total electronic payment business in the country respectively, serving more than 1 billion individuals and tens of millions of merchants.
However, at the same time, the phenomenon of illegal operation of some payment institutions also occurs from time to time. There are payment institutions that misappropriate user funds in violation of regulations, leak or improperly collect or use user information;Individual payment institutions have taken risks to provide channels for the transfer of funds for illegal and criminal activities such as telecommunications network fraud and cross-border gambling.
* The Financial Work Conference proposed to strengthen the construction of financial rule of law, timely promote legislation in key financial areas and emerging fields, and escort the development of the financial industry.
The Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Non-bank Payment Institutions became the first administrative regulation in the financial field issued after the first financial work conference.
The person in charge of the People's Bank of China said that upgrading the effective system in regulatory practice to administrative regulations and further consolidating the legal foundation for the standardized and healthy development of payment institutions is conducive to creating a law-based business environment, stabilizing the expectations of all parties, stimulating market vitality, and also conducive to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of users, preventing and resolving risks, and promoting the high-quality development of the non-bank payment industry.
Key point 2: Put the prevention and resolution of risks and the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of users in a prominent position.
Non-bank payment is related to the capital security and information security of the majority of users, and is closely related to other financial businesses, and is also an important aspect of the standardized and healthy development of the platform economy.
Focusing on the overall development and security, the regulations further strengthen supervision, adhere to licensed operations, clarify the access conditions for payment institutions, such as registered capital, major shareholders, actual controllers, and senior executives, and establish and improve a normalized exit mechanism for institutions that violate laws and regulations.
Feng Qiao, deputy general manager of Alipay, believes that the regulations further strengthen the supervision of the whole chain and the whole cycle of payment institutions, which is conducive to preventing risks in the payment industry, and the payment industry will usher in further standardized and orderly development.
In terms of strengthening risk management, the regulations require payment accounts to be opened in the user's real name, and non-bank payment institutions shall not embezzle, occupy or borrow reserve funds, and shall not forge or alter payment instructions.
At present, the average daily reserve balance of China's payment institutions exceeds 2 trillion yuan. The relevant person in charge of the network connection company believes that the regulations focus on key issues in market development such as account management and reserve fund management, and put forward programmatic and guiding normative requirements, pointing out the direction for the steady progress of industry compliance.
In terms of strengthening the protection of users' rights and interests, the regulations stipulate that payment institutions shall draft agreement terms in accordance with the principle of fairness, protect users' right to know and choose, strengthen the protection of user information, and require payment institutions to clearly mark the prices of the services they provide and charge reasonable fees.
The regulations have greatly strengthened the protection of users' rights and interests, and regard the protection of users' rights and interests as the primary task of the development of the payment and clearing industry. The relevant person of the China Payment and Clearing Association said that as an industry self-regulatory organization, the association will organize all parties in the industry to carefully study and implement Xi the regulations, and promote healthy competition and standardized healthy development of the industry.
Key point 3: Re-divide the operation of stored value accounts and the processing of payment transactions.
The regulations propose to reclassify the payment business into two categories: stored value account operation and payment transaction processing, and the key to distinguishing these two types of business is whether the payer can receive advance funds.
Previously, payment business was often divided into three categories: online payment, bank card acquiring and prepaid card business. With technological innovation and business development, emerging methods such as barcode payment and face payment have emerged, and the existing classification methods cannot well meet the needs of market development and supervision.
In the view of industry insiders, the new classification method is based on the essence and risk characteristics of the business, penetrates the surface form of the payment business, is conducive to the unification of capital and other access conditions and business rule requirements, and eliminates regulatory depressions. Under the new classification method, no matter what the external form of payment business is, it can be classified and managed according to the essence of the business, which can better adapt to the development and changes of the industry, and classify various new payment channels and payment methods into two basic business types.
Zheng Haojian, general manager of Tenpay, a payment institution under Tencent Group, said that according to the essence of the business, the business type is reclassified into stored value account operation business and payment transaction processing business, which can effectively prevent regulatory arbitrage and regulatory gaps.
The reporter learned from the People's Bank of China that the People's Bank of China will study and formulate implementation rules in the near future, do a good job in connecting the new business types with the original classification methods, and promote the smooth transition of business.
Key point 4: Continue to maintain the order of fair competition.
The regulations also clarify the regulatory responsibilities and legal responsibilities, among which "maintaining the order of fair competition" is one of the principles that should be adhered to in the supervision and management of non-bank payment institutions.
In January 2021, the People's Bank of China issued the Regulations on Non-bank Payment Institutions (Consultation Draft), which strengthens anti-monopoly regulatory measures in the payment field and maintains the market order of fair competition.
The regulations promulgated this time continue the previous requirements, clarifying that non-bank payment institutions shall not engage in monopolistic or unfair competition behaviors that impede the order of fair competition in the market.
Liu Xiaodong, general manager of Qiandaibao, said that as a payment institution under Meituan, in the next step, Qiandaibao will take the regulations as the guidance and basis for the company's business development, adhere to the bottom line of compliance management, actively maintain the order of fair competition in the payment market, and work with all parties in the industry to contribute to the high-quality development of the payment industry and better meet the needs of the real economy.
The promulgation of the regulations is conducive to the establishment of long-term stable expectations by all parties in the industry and the improvement of a fair and orderly market environment. Qiu Han, CEO of PayPal Pay (Beijing)**, said that as a wholly-owned subsidiary of PayPal (PayPal) in China, PayPal Pay has strengthened its confidence in serving the Chinese market for a long time, and the company will use the global payment network to make due contributions to the high-quality development of cross-border **.
Drafting: Hugo.