Visa gets Beijing's green light for bank card business after 40 years of working with China
The incremental approval comes as the U.S. and Chinese presidents are due to meet for a third time this year next month.
TL;DR
- Visa has received approval from the People's Bank of China to begin establishing a local bank card clearing business.
- This approval allows Visa to enter China's domestic payments market after more than 40 years of contributing to its payments landscape.
- Mastercard and American Express have already received similar approvals in recent years.
- The timing of the approval is seen as strategic, preceding a meeting between the U.S. and Chinese presidents.
- Visa previously applied in May 2020 and has worked with Chinese banks on dual-branded cards.
- Mobile payments, primarily by Tencent's WeChat and Alibaba-affiliate Ant's Alipay, currently dominate consumer transactions in China.