PayPal is seeking to become the first foreign-owned non-bank company to gain a license from China’s central bank to offer payment services in the domestic market. An executive recently provided an update on the matter. In an article from Bloomberg News:
PayPal filed an application to the People’s Bank of China late last year. “We are cautiously optimistic we’ll be given a license,” Senior Vice President for Asia Rupert Keeley said at a briefing in Hong Kong on Friday.
PayPal has been operating in China for several years with limited market share. Top players like AliPay and TenPay dominate the local market.
China introduced new regulations two years ago requiring non-bank companies offering payment services in China to obtain a license from the central bank. A number of domestic companies have obtained the licenses to offer online payments, mobile payments and prepaid card services, among others. But the central bank has not approved licenses for companies such as integrated food and facilities management services
provider Sodexo, prepaid card provider Edenred and even PayPal. The bank said it’s waiting for instructions from the central government regarding foreign-owned companies.
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