Chinese third-party payment platforms including Union Pay, WeChat Pay and Alipay will be forced to conduct all payments through a unified platform from mid-2018, The People’s Bank of China has announced.
The new system – confirmed by the country’s central bank last Friday – will require China’s banks and third-party payment providers to connect to the new Nets Union Clearing Corporation (NUCC) by 15 October 2017 with all online payments involving bank accounts to be carried out on the NUCC unified platform from 30 June 2018.
The system will replace the current online payment procedures whereby payments are conducted directly between third-party payment providers and banks.
The announcement is the latest in China’s efforts to control the flow of money out of the country, with The People’s Bank of China claiming it will ensure effective regulation and security in transactions. Directing payments through the NUCC will also provide The People’s Bank of China with more detailed information on transactions and capital flow with the aim of assisting in the prevention of money laundering and illicit cash transfers.
China is home to the most third-party user payments of any country in the world with the NUCC expected to process up to 100,000 transactions per second in peak periods.
