State Council, Decision on Exercising Administration over Access by Bank Card Settlement Institutions

Issued: April 9 2015

Effective: June 1 2015

Applicability: For the purposes of this Decision, the term “bank card settlement business” means the activity, through the formulation of bank card settlement criteria and rules, of operating a bank card settlement business system, authorizing the issuance and acceptance of bank cards branded by the bank card settlement institution in question, providing an inter-organization transaction handling service for its branded bank cards to card issuers and acquirers and assisting them in completing monetary settlement (Article 1).

Main contents: The Decision completely liberalises the bank card settlement market, allowing access to both domestic and foreign investment.

To apply for a bank card settlement organization, an organization shall be an enterprise legal person established in accordance with the PRC Company Law and satisfy conditions such as:

(1) having registered capital of at least Rmb1 billion; and