Bank card chip tech to go local
- Source: Global Times
- [10:36 June 10 2010]
- Comments
Plates displaying the logos of Visa and China UnionPay seen at a cash desk in a department store in Shanghai. Photo: IC
By Tang Zhao
The issuance of dual-currency credit and debit cards in China could come to an end if rumored plans to only allow banks to issue cards with inte-grated circuit chips (ICCs) compliant with a Chinese standard are implemented nationwide.
An unidentified manager of a credit card center with a State-owned bank said that his bank has been told by China's central bank, People's Bank of China (PBC), that it must issue ICC credit cards compliant with PBOC 2.0, the Chinese ICC standard, as of the end of this year, according to a report in the 21st Century Business Herald Wednesday.
The source's information tallies with a China Business Journal report on June 6 that said PBC has required all newly-issued bank cards to have ICCs from January 1, 2015, and that these chips should be PBOC 2.0 compliant.
The report said that State-owned banks in China will be required to start issuing PBOC 2.0 ICC cards nationwide from the end of 2010, and joint-stock banks must follow suit from the end of 2012.
If true, the move could lead to a conflict between international card companies and China UnionPay (CUP), the country's only credit card payment network operator, over which IC chip standard to use.
At present, all cards issued in China must carry CUP's logo. Banks also issue dual-currency cards bearing Visa, MasterCard, American Express or JCB logos, in association with the international card organizations and CUP.
All debit and credit cards with ICCs bearing just the CUP logo currently use the Chinese-developed PBOC 2.0 standard for their chip technology. However, dual-currency CUP cards that bear the logo of an international partner currently use the EMV ICC standard, developed by MasterCard and Visa.
Visa did not respond to interview requests from the Global Times Wednesday, while CUP declined to comment.
Many Chinese media view the move to require the PBOC 2.0 standard as a response to the recent dispute between Visa and CUP over Chinese dual-currency card settlements.
Visa recently announced it will fine acquiring banks outside of the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao that process dual CUP-Visa cards through CUP's system.
