Payment service denies wrongdoing
- Source: Global Times
- [10:48 June 18 2010]
- Comments
The Southern Metropolis Daily report also said that a journalist at the newspaper had successfully completed a foreign exchange purchase through 99Bill, despite entering a wrong ID number during the payment process.
The 99Bill manager denied that such a transaction could have been successful.
"Once any incorrect personal information is found, for instance if the ID number does not match the buyer's name, then the money will be returned to the customer's account," he said.
According to State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) regulations, Chinese nationals as well as foreigners are allowed to conduct currency exchanges up to a value of $50,000 annually. The rules also stipulate that foreign exchange sales and purchases shall be dealt with at banks upon the strength of valid personal identity certificates.
Figures released by market research firm iResearch put the online payment transaction volume in China for the first quarter of this year at 212.1 billion yuan ($31 billion), up 93.5 percent year-on-year.
According to the report, 99Bill had a 4.6 percent share of the market during the period, while Alipay, which is affiliated to Alibaba, held the largest individual share at 47.1 percent.
