Suspend virtual credit card: UnionPay?

A paper document from the central bank blocked the virtual credit card that was about to be unveiled. What hidden hidden behind the emergency stop? Protecting consumer rights is the clearest reason for the central bank, but the UnionPay interests that are bypassed are also the most sensitive facts.

"We are already in close communication with the central bank. We don't have to worry. We just need to complete some reporting work with the central bank. Next, if there is any further news, we will keep you informed. We are striving to complete the report in the shortest possible time. To make everything back to normal." On the afternoon of March 14, Tencent's public relations manager Hu Chunxi responded to the Rule of Law Weekend reporter's response to the suspension of Tencent's virtual credit card business.

Chen Liang, the public relations director of Alipay, said: "Today, the central bank has reported and communicated specific business, and will submit relevant information according to the requirements of the central bank. Please do not worry and maintain confidence. If there is any progress, it will be notified at any time."

CITIC Bank issued an announcement on the evening of March 16th, confirming the news that Tencent and Alibaba jointly launched the virtual credit card business, and said that the bank and Tencent, Alibaba and Zhongan Insurance (Reassuring Insurance) jointly launched CITIC Both the bank's WeChat co-branded credit card and CITIC Taobao's differentially-paid co-branded credit card are in the testing stage and are not yet online. These two products will strictly abide by the regulatory requirements of the regulatory authorities, further strengthen the compliance and safety assessment of related products and the pre-promotion test, improve the product management system, and control risks.

At this time, it was less than three days since Tencent and Alibaba announced the joint launch of virtual credit card business with CITIC Bank. Also being called together is the offline barcode (two-dimensional code) payment service.

In the "extraordinary documents" issued by the central bank, "the letter from the People's Bank of China Payment and Settlement Department on suspending Alipay's offline barcode (two-dimensional code) payment and other business opinions", the virtual credit card broke through the existing credit card business model and was implemented. In terms of customer identity, the company has not fulfilled its obligations, and asked Baoyin Caitong to suspend offline bar code (QR code) payment, virtual credit card related business, and require Alipay and Tenpay to report the detailed product introduction, management system and operation process. .

The product was stopped when it was not online, and the “quick file” of the central bank seemed to have set off a dark battle in the transfer clearing market dominated by UnionPay. The industry believes that the final attitude of the central bank will affect the bank credit card market and the offline payment market, and the game of different interest camps has entered the most critical stage.

On the day before the release of the urgent documents, the president of UnionPay once said: "We really don't want everyone to regard UnionPay as Tang Yan, just thinking about eating Tang Yan meat and digging each other."

High-profile virtual credit card

On March 11, Tencent and Alibaba announced the launch of virtual credit card business with CITIC Bank. Unlike the traditional credit card review and distribution model, the virtual credit card is free from the physical card restrictions, from application to card opening to use, all online.

According to the materials provided by Tencent and Alipay to the rule of law weekend reporters, consumers can apply online and instant review through WeChat or Alipay wallet. After the application is approved, you can get an online digital credit card, and can automatically open the card and bind WeChat or Alipay wallet to make various payments such as online payment and QR code payment.

Throughout the process, applicants do not need to answer questions such as fixed income, availability of garages, or fill in various materials, and no longer need to wait for long and tedious procedures such as review, card collection, and card opening.

Alipay virtual credit card credit line starts at 200 yuan, the upper limit is based on personal network credit. According to the consumer's consumption records and credit records, the amount can be gradually increased; and the maximum credit limit of WeChat credit card is 5,000 yuan.

Some bankers estimate that under the traditional model, the cost of a bank issuing a credit card is about 80 yuan to 100 yuan. If CITIC Bank can use this channel to issue 1 million online credit cards, the cost alone can save nearly 100 million yuan.

And credit card research veteran Dong Wei told the rule of law weekend reporter that the risk of this card issuance process is "too terrible" and does not comply with relevant regulations.

"The first thing to be clear is whether the virtual credit card is a credit card. If it is a credit card, the card issuance process must comply with the "Commercial Bank Credit Card Supervision and Management Measures". The current process is problematic." Dong Wei said.

According to Dong Wei, according to the credit card regulatory requirements, users must apply for a credit card to go to the counter to review the information, face-to-face and identity verification procedures, and the issuing bank needs to make a review based on the materials submitted by the applicant to see if the applicant has repayment ability. At present, each bank's credit card center has a strict credit card rating system.

"Even in the case of strict bank risk control, the credit card's bad debt rate is still rising, and the physical card fraud is repeatedly prohibited, resulting in double losses of cardholders' funds and credits. How to guarantee the funds for the virtual credit card that missed the review procedure? Security? And most of these accounts are tied to mobile phones, and the security risks at the technical level are higher.” Dong Wei said.

Although Tencent and Alipay have repeatedly mentioned the replies to the rule of law weekend reporters, they have taken measures to reduce the risk by including the reduction of credit card quotas and the introduction of insurance companies. However, in the view of Dong Wei, this is not enough to protect funds and Credit security.

"How do insurance companies pay? If the rights and interests are damaged, what if there is no relevant evidence? And there is no detailed operation specification." Dong Wei said.

When to resume without a timetable

Zhou Jinjin, deputy director of the central bank's payment and settlement department, said that the central bank's move is intended to regulate the development of related businesses and protect consumer rights, rather than targeting a certain company. And now it’s just a “pause” that is not a market rumor.

Zhou Jin said that he had received complaints from some consumers before, and some users had problems with information and funds being stolen during the payment process of QR codes. Compared with traditional businesses, innovative services, including QR code payment and virtual credit card, involve many new technologies, new processes and new identification technologies. Some of the aspects involved are not covered by the rules. There is a certain risk potential, and the central bank needs to study this further.

Xu Jian, a partner of Laiyi Electronics, told the rule of law weekend reporter that the problem of user identification and transaction security protection is the biggest bottleneck of Internet finance. At present, there is a big security hole in the identity authentication method for reserving the mobile phone number for SMS verification. Once the mobile phone card is copied or verified, the short message is hijacked and forwarded, and the criminal can illegally control the victim's mobile banking.

“In addition to this, the single-channel transmission of payment instructions and verification instructions is easily falsified. Although banks and third-party companies have made corresponding security measures while providing mobile payment services, due to single-channel communication between customers and banks. Transmission method (by the mobile phone, computer and other terminals simultaneously send payment instructions and verification instructions to the bank server), this method is easily attacked by network intermediaries and browser hijackers, financial institutions are difficult to confirm the identity of the client operator, unable to identify the network The middleman tampering with the payment instructions." Xu Jian said.

The central bank said in the document that Alipay and related offline payments, virtual credit card companies need to fully communicate with the central bank, and improve the program to solve customer identification, information protection issues and customer payment security and financial security issues. .

It is reported that after receiving the report materials of relevant enterprises, the central bank will conduct research and evaluation from the perspective of risk. It is still uncertain when it is possible to resume these two businesses.

Li Xianyu, secretary general of the China Banking Research Center of the Central University of Finance and Economics, told the rule of law weekend that the central bank’s suspension of the virtual credit card business is mainly to keep up with the pace of innovation, including innovative services such as QR code payment and virtual credit card, involving many new technologies. New processes and new identification technologies, such as risk assessment, consumer identification, etc., are not covered in traditional rules, and research needs to be done before new policies are developed.

Huang Zhen, a professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics and director of the Institute of Financial Law, revealed that after the document was issued, a central bank leader called him and said that March 15 is the consumer rights day. The central bank did so for consumer protection. .

Yang Dong, deputy director of the Institute of Financial Law at Renmin University of China, told the Rule of Law Weekend reporter that virtual credit cards are definitely the future development trend, but it takes time to improve.

CICC recently reported that it does not rule out the possibility of QR code payment and virtual credit card subsequent recovery. Historically, the central bank and UnionPay have repeatedly regulated third-party payments, but third-party payment companies are still thriving. In the context of encouraging the development of Internet finance, after supplementing materials and making corrections, QR code payment and virtual credit cards are still recovering.

Most third-party payment agencies bypass UnionPay

It is worth noting that there is still a view in the market that the central bank suspends QR code payment and virtual credit card in addition to risk control, mainly because these two products have moved UnionPay's “cheese”, which has led to the market position of UnionPay transfer clearing. Was replaced.

"The virtual credit card business will damage the interests of UnionPay." Yang Dong told the rule of law weekend reporter.

Dong Wei told the Lawrence Weekend reporter that in the traditional offline acquiring business model, if it involves the transfer clearing business, it must take the UnionPay channel. The card processing fee issuing bank, the acquiring bank, and the UnionPay are divided according to 7:2:1.

“If the virtual credit card is implemented, the issuing bank is CITIC Bank, and the acquiring bank is a third-party payment institution such as Alipay and Tenpay. They receive the order by direct connection with the bank, bypassing UnionPay for liquidation, in accordance with the previous bank credit card regulations. Transfer settlement is a must to take the UnionPay channel." Dong Wei said.

On March 13, UnionPay President Shi Wenchao expressed concern about the prospects of UnionPay at a press conference: "I have been very upset recently. The People's Bank of China has approved 250 third-party payment institutions. The top 20 payment institutions. The family accounted for more than 90% of the market share. These 20 organizations have tried every means to bypass the UnionPay for transfer clearing. The transaction volume of UnionPay is very obvious."

However, central bankers told the media that the so-called "Fluorine Union Cheese" comment is one-sided. This matter is essentially a matter of defining and reporting the process between the third party payment and the central bank of the regulator, and is a contradiction between the innovation and the rule process.

"Innovation doesn't mean ignoring the rules, not how anyone wants to do it." Central bankers believe that some IT-paying payment companies tend to focus on efficiency and market share in financial services, ignoring the security of rules and payment environments.

Some insiders pointed out that the new Internet finance products are now being launched rapidly. For example, the micro-POS that has just appeared recently has not been certified by any certification department for its security, and it has been pushed to the market. In fact, POS machines have national security technology standards. For these similar problems, the central bank will find and standardize as much as possible.

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