China Grants Visa Network Preliminary Approval After Years of Market Barriers
The U.S. payment-card company has sought entry for nine years as Beijing maintained restrictions benefiting state-backed China UnionPay.
TL;DR
- China's central bank has granted preliminary approval to Visa for a domestic card-processing business.
- This approval follows nearly a decade of efforts by Visa to enter the Chinese market.
- President Donald Trump had previously pressed Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Visa's restricted market access.
- Visa must still obtain a separate operating license to process domestic transactions.
- The Chinese market is currently dominated by the state-backed China UnionPay.