PBOC considers new rules for non-bank online payment

China's central bank has issued two drafts for stringent new regulations for non-bank online payment providers, in a push to toughen restrictions on the nation's burgeoning Internet finance sector, according to media reports over the weekend.

The draft rules for management of payment providers' online services and draft guidelines for development of mobile payment services were issued Tuesday by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, which had sought opinions from third-party payment companies until Thursday, Guangzhou-based Nandu Daily reported Sunday.

The maximum transfer via third-party payment accounts will not be allowed to exceed 1,000 yuan ($162.6) per single transaction and the cumulative total of transfers per year must be no more than 10,000 yuan, the report said, citing the draft rules.

The rules also stipulate that payment providers will be ordered to implement separate management of money transferred to users' accounts, which can only be used for consumption and cannot be transferred back into bank accounts.

The draft guidelines on mobile payment services also say that third-party payment providers will be banned from offering Internet payment transactions linking buyers and certain offline retailers, the 21st Century Business Herald, another Guangzhou-based newspaper, reported over the weekend.

The central bank has yet to make any official announcement about the new rulese.

The reports about the new rules came after the PBC's issuance of a notice on Thursday, which suspended payments by mobile devices via scanning a QR code and the launch of online credit cards.

There have been customer complaints about the safety of their personal data and money when making payments by scanning QR codes with mobile devices, so further consideration about the various new types of payment was needed, Zhou Jinhuang, deputy director with the Payment and Settlement Department of the PBOC, told the Xinhua News Agency Friday.

Alipay's businesses are currently unaffected, Zhang Daosheng, a spokesperson for Alipay, the online payment unit of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, told the Global Times Sunday.

"We believe in the wisdom of the regulatory authorities," Zhang said.

Shenzhen-based Tencent Holdings, whose WeChat mobile messaging application offers a QR code scanner service, said in a statement sent to the Global Times Friday that it was "negotiating with the central bank."

The company said it hoped everything would soon "return to normal," in response to the PBOC's suspension of QR code payments.

Tencent refused to comment further when contacted by the Global Times Sunday.

If the new rules, which contain many unexpected provisions, really come into being, it would undoubtedly deal a heavy blow to the entire third-party payment sector, Lu Hongyi, CEO of GoPay Information Technology, a third-party payment service provider in Beijing, told the Global Times Sunday.

The central bank may make adjustments to the rules based on opinions that it receives from relevant parties, "or else it would have a big impact," Zhang Meng, an analyst at Beijing-based research firm Analysys International, also said Sunday.

Lu said there have long been two opinions within the central bank: whether to stimulate growth of the third-party payment segment as a beneficial supplement to existing financial services, or to allow large commercial banks to continue their dominance.

Recent signs indicate the latter view has prevailed, Lu noted.

The rise of online finance has posed a threat to big State-owned banks and China UnionPay, a national bank card association, market watchers said.

Some Internet-savvy users expressed their concern about the PBOC's toughened stance on online payment.

A Weibo user carrying the handle 3chuang-anhui said Sunday that she was pleased to be able to pay taxi fees through the use of QR code scanning.

But she queried whether this kind of payment would still be possible if the new rules are released.

The PBOC has issued two drafts before for regulation of Internet payment services, which were less strict, an unnamed industry insider was quoted as saying by the 21st Century Business Herald.