A Chinese tourist pays by scanning QR code of Alipay in Rovaniemi, Finland, Jan. 19, 2018.(Photo: Xinhua)

Chinese media reports that personal money reception codes "will be banned for business operations" is misleading, China's central bank said, adding a new regulation will close loopholes, protect the security of individual merchants' funds, and will not affect people's daily consumption payments.

Responding to recent reports that "personal static collection barcode of WeChat and Alipay will no longer be able to be used for business operational purposes," a relevant department of the People's Bank of China (PBC) said that the media reports were misleading, the Xinhua News Agency reported.  Merchants who use personal money reception codes need to apply to collection service agencies, such as WeChat and Alipay, to switch to commercial collection codes, but consumers' daily payment experiences will not be affected, PBC stated.

Some Chinese media outlets have misinterpreted the news about a barcode payment supervision notice which was issued by the PBC in October. The regulation will come into effect in March, 2022.

A person from the PBC said that the new regulation aims to strengthen industry management, close loopholes, cut off illegal chains and better protect the safety of individual merchants' funds, Xinhua reported.

The introduction of the new regulations will promptly prevent businesses' tax evasion and money laundering, and also prevent consumers from falling into new types of financial fraud, experts said.

Global Times