Recently, the State Council Information Office held a policy briefing. Relevant officials from the People’s Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange introduced measures to further optimise payment services and enhance payment convenience, and answered questions from the press.
1. Mobile payment made easier
In recent years, China’s mobile payment has developed rapidly, but at the same time, some overseas travelers in China have found it difficult to adapt to the general trends of payment and consumption. The relevant official from the People’s Bank of China summarised the difficulties overseas travelers encounter in making mobile payment when they are in China for tourism, visits, business and other activities as follows:
(1) It cannot be used, as some overseas travelers cannot bind their overseas bank cards on Chinese payment platforms. (2) It’s not easy to use because of the current transaction limit. (3) They don’t want to use it after they run into those problems with payment.
In response to these problems, the People’s Bank of China will guide payment institutions to launch a series of convenient measures. Firstly, Alipay and Tenpay are optimising their operating procedures and improving the efficiency of linking overseas bank cards. Secondly, identity verification will be simplified to enable overseas travelers to more conveniently handle a series of processes such as card binding; user’s personal information will be better protected in accordance with the Personal Information Protecting Law. Thirdly, major payment platforms including Alipay and Tenpay will be guided to raise the single transaction limit for overseas travelers using mobile payments from 1,000 US dollars to 5,000 US dollars, and raise the annual cumulative transaction limit from 10,000 US dollars to 50,000 US dollars.
2. Foreign currency exchange services optimised
Recently, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has taken measures to improve foreign currency cash exchange services, optimise the user experience of mobile payment, and improve related foreign exchange services, so as to further facilitate overseas travelers’ short-term travel and long-term stay in China.
Foreign currency exchange services are optimised. In addition to bank branches and ATM machines, 119 specialised foreign currency exchange institutions and facilities have been set up. The number of such institutions and facilities has reached 2,295. Over 40 currencies are now offered, with better provision of cash and small bills. What’s more, the publicity and training of foreign currency exchange services will be enhanced, with facilitations provided to the establishment of foreign currency exchange service consultation points in airports and other places.
3. Cash acceptance highlighted
In response to the difficulty in using RMB cash by overseas travelers in China, since October 2023, the People’s Bank of China, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, has carried out special rectification work on those refusing to accept RMB cash. Business entities are guided to maintain smooth channels for cash payment services, focusing on the needs of overseas travelers and other groups. During this period, relevant departments conducted a comprehensive survey of the hardware(equipment) and software(willingness) of business regarding cash acceptance and business entities are encouraged to sign a “Commitment to Accept Cash” and post signs supporting cash payments. Financial institutions are guided to issue “coin purses” to business entities, and give risk warnings to those with insufficient loose change.
4. Transport made easier for overseas travelers in China
The Ministry of Transport has taken a series of targeted measures to make it easier to buy a ticket and make payment.
First, expanding ticket purchasing channels. Efforts have been made to accelerate the popularisation of e-tickets and facilitate domestic and foreign travelers to purchase tickets online with their ID cards, passports, foreigner permanent residence permits and other documents. At the same time, in view of the payment habits of different groups, ticket offices and manual ticket inspection will be retained to meet the needs of overseas travelers who purchase tickets offline. Second, improving payment methods. Major domestic online ride-hailing platform companies are encouraged to expand payment channels, and some companies now provide overseas travelers with the service of “overseas mobile phone number registration + international credit card payment”. Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other cities allow overseas travelers to use QR codes to take buses and rail transit after binding their overseas bank cards to Alipay and UnionPay.
