A document citing the central bank’s ruling was quoted by the Financial Times as saying, "No payment institution is allowed to co-operate with foreign card companies in developing cross-border payment businesses involving renminbi bank accounts or renminbi payment accounts."
"Foreign currencies must be used when clearing and settling domestic acquisitions made by people holding foreign credit cards."
EPayLinks through its Hong Kong subsidiary entered into partnership with MasterCard and as per the team up agreement, cards will be issued and processed through the MasterCard payments system by offshore renminbi.
Commenting on the ruling, EPayLinks said, "Looking at ecommerce, it is clear that there will be a trend of foreign cards being used in China."
"The big trend is that this business will be permitted, but the exact policies are still not clear."
Hinting at the country’s readiness for entry of foreign card companies into the domestic market, the central bank said, "We are now researching and drafting regulatory policies for foreign bank card organisations to enter the Chinese payment services market."
