This newspaper (chinatimesnet.CN) reporters Hu Mengran and Zhang Zhi reported from Shenzhen.
Towards the end of the year, tens of millions of fines have reappeared in the third-party payment field.
On December 26, the administrative penalty decision issued by the Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China showed that Deshi shares *** confiscated 242 illegal gains for violating merchant management regulations and liquidation management regulations615373 million yuan and fined 8,630503838 million yuan, and the total amount of fines and confiscations exceeded 88.73 million yuan.
This is the fourth non-bank payment fine to reach the level of 10 million yuan this month. Previously, Shanghai Yinshengbao electronic payment service*** was fined a total of 1756 by the Shanghai branch of the People's Bank of China100,000 yuan, Guangdong Hui Card Business Service *** and Guangdong Xinhui E-commerce *** were fined 2183 respectively560,000 yuan, 1191990,000 yuan.
According to incomplete statistics, as of December 29, 54 fines have been issued in the field of third-party payment this year, and more than 20 third-party payment institutions have been fined, with a total amount of more than 6.2 billion yuan.
Tens of millions of fines are frequent
This time, Deshi shares were fined 88.73 million yuan, exceeding the 80.9 million fines received by Zhonghui Electronics at the end of October, becoming the largest fine received by third-party payment institutions this year in addition to Alipay and Tenpay.
In addition, in December, three other institutions were fined tens of millions of yuan at one time. Guangdong Huika Business Service*** was warned and fined a total of 2,183 for violating the merchant management regulations and violating the payment account management regulations560,000 yuan;Guangdong Xinhui E-commerce*** was warned and fined a total of 1191 for violating merchant management regulations990,000 yuan. Shanghai Yinshengbao electronic payment service*** was also warned and fined a total of 1,756 for violating the merchant management regulations and violating the liquidation management regulations100,000 yuan.
From the perspective of the reasons for the fines, violations of anti-money laundering regulations are still the "hardest hit areas" of frequent penalties for payment institutions this year, and the violations involved are mostly concentrated in violations of account management regulations, violations of special merchant management regulations, and failure to perform customer identification obligations in accordance with regulations. At the same time, more than 60% of the fines involve "double penalties", that is, the responsible persons are fined together, and the reasons for violations of laws and regulations are concentrated in violating the relevant regulations on payment and settlement management and failing to implement the real-name management of special merchants in accordance with regulations.
Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Broadcom Consulting, said in an interview with the China Times that on the whole, most of the large fines exposed this year were in the previous 1-2 years, which is the result of the central bank's continuous strict supervision and law enforcement inspections, and in fact, it is also a reflection of the continuous standardized development of the payment industry.
He pointed out: "Strict supervision will become the norm, and the development of third-party payment institutions is going through a stage of big waves, and under the premise of gradually fixing payment rates, institutions that carry out compliance and enterprise digital service transformation as soon as possible can gain greater development space in the future." ”
Angel investor Guo Tao pointed out to the China Times that compared with previous years, the development of third-party payment institutions this year has shown the following changes. First of all, the regulatory authorities have significantly strengthened the supervision of third-party payment institutions, and the penalties for violations of laws and regulations have also been increased accordingly, which has prompted payment institutions to pay more attention to compliance operationsSecondly, due to the tightening of regulatory policies and the intensification of market competition, some small payment institutions are difficult to survive, resulting in accelerated industry consolidation and a more stable position of large payment institutions.
Regarding the changes of third-party payment institutions this year, Zhao Yongxin, director of the Asian Academy of Digital Economy in China, added: "It can be observed that the business model of the institution has innovated this year, which is also to respond to market competition and regulatory pressure, and continue to explore innovative business models to provide more convenient, safe and efficient payment services." In addition, the growth of cross-border payment, with the acceleration of the process of the "Belt and Road", the cross-border payment business of third-party payment institutions has grown rapidly, becoming a new focus of competition. ”
Strict supervision has become the norm
At the end of the year, third-party payment institutions also ushered in a new regulatory test. On December 17, the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Non-bank Payment Institutions (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") were officially promulgated and will come into force on May 1, 2024. The "Regulations" focus on four aspects: first, clarify the definition and establishment license of non-bank payment institutions;The second is to improve the rules of payment business;The third is to protect the legitimate rights and interests of users;Fourth, clarify regulatory responsibilities and legal responsibilities.
On December 28, the State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on the policy to further introduce the issuance of the "Regulations". Zhang Qingsong, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, said that the promulgation of the "Regulations" has further clarified the rights, obligations and responsibilities of all parties in the payment industry, endowed the regulatory authorities with administrative powers in accordance with the law, and effectively consolidated the legal foundation for the standardized and healthy development of the industry, marking that the development of the payment industry has entered a new stage.
He said that after decades of development, China has established a wide-coverage, safe and efficient payment and clearing system centered on the first-class bank payment and clearing system, with the participation of commercial banks, clearing institutions, and non-bank payment institutions. At present, more than 4,000 commercial banks and more than 180 payment institutions have effectively met the needs of 1The payment needs of 600 million business entities and hundreds of millions of consumers. China's personal bank account ownership rate has exceeded 95%, which is higher than the average level of middle- and high-income economies, and the mobile payment penetration rate has reached 86%, ranking first in the world.
The Regulations specify that the same shareholder shall not directly or indirectly hold more than 10% of the equity or voting rights of two or more non-bank payment institutions of the same business type. The same actual controller must not control two or more non-bank payment institutions of the same business type, except as otherwise provided by the state. Under the regulation of the Ordinance, it is expected that the number of licenses will be further reduced, and a total of 15 payment licenses have been cancelled this year. Since the issuance of the first batch of tripartite payment licenses in 2011, a total of 85 payment licenses have been cancelled so far, and the number of payment licenses is 186.
Wang Sheng, head of the Payment and Settlement Department of the People's Bank of China, said at the meeting that the latest Regulations focus on the combination of institutional supervision and functional supervision. The Regulations clearly implement the management of "license before license" for payment institutions, stipulate that the controlling shareholders and actual controllers of payment institutions shall comply with the provisions on equity management, put forward clear regulatory requirements for corporate governance and management of systemically important institutions, and build a framework of "institutional supervision". In addition, the payment business is reclassified from the dimensions of funds and information. Under the new classification method, regardless of the impact of new payment channels and payment methods, regardless of the external form of payment business, it can be classified and managed according to the essence of the business, so as to better meet the needs of payment business development and implement "functional supervision".
Editor-in-charge: Xu Yunqian Editor-in-chief: Gong Peijia.