The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Union Mobile Pay (UMPay) and American Express have launched the ICBC Mobile Payment American Express® Card, China’s first dual-currency credit card with mobile account payment capabilities and features. READ MORE

INTERAC, Canada’s national debit network, and China Unionpay, China’s national bank card payment network, have announced the launch of a new service that will give China Unionpay cardholders traveling in Canada the ability to withdraw cash from ATMs of participating acquirers in Canada. READ MORE

In an article titled "China Cracking Down on Credit Card Issuers", Michael Wei and Kirby Chien write for Reuters from Beijing about China's slowing down expansion of credit cards - noting that concerns about expanding too quickly have led "Beijing government and banks to scale back a credit card policy that expanded too far, too fast in a country with little history of or experience with personal debt."

TSYS has announced that China UnionPay Data Services Co., Ltd. (CUP Data), TSYS’ joint venture with China UnionPay (CUP), has signed five new long-term bankcard processing agreements, and won several major domestic and international awards during the last six months.

"The new agreements include credit card processing contracts with Yaodu Credit Cooperative; Shandong Provincial City Commercial Banks Alliance, an alliance of 14 city commercial banks; Yunan Rural Credit Union and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank. The new agreements also include a prepaid processing contract with KargoCard, a Malaysia-based retail marketing company that will be introducing innovative stored-value and reloadable gift card programs to retail brands and merchants in Asia." READ MORE

Visa has announced that Visa cardholders in Taiwan and mainland China are the first Visa cardholders in the world to be able to use a new mobile phone-based one-time password to authenticate themselves when they use their Visa card for purchases over the internet.

Participating in the new Visa service are Chinatrust Commercial Bank and China Everbright Bank in China. The new service utilizes Verified by Visa, an online authentication tool that provides cardholders an increased level of protection when they shop online. READ MORE

Motorola has announced a mobile commerce solution for financial and retail merchandising needs. The solution, consisting of an M-Wallet and back-end management platform, has been deployed by Union Mobile Pay (UMPay), a leading mobile payment company established by China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC) and China UnionPay. READ MORE

TSYS has announced that China UnionPay Data Services Co., Ltd. (“CUP Data”), TSYS’ joint venture with China UnionPay, has signed a debit card processing agreement with Citibank (China) Co., Ltd. (“Citi China”). READ MORE

99Bill Corporation has announced the launch of a new service offering installment credit enabling consumers to buy goods by paying in installments. 99Bill says this is the first of its kind in China's electronics payment service market. READ MORE

Visa has announced that the "international tourists who have joined the more than 11,000 athletes from 204 participating National Olympic Committees in China for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games have had an immediate impact on the nation’s economy, including nearly US$10 million spent on Visa cards on the opening day of the Games. The money spent by tourists on their Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards on 8 August 2008 showed an increase of 11 percent over last year (8 August 2007). Opening Day’s biggest Visa spenders were from USA, followed by Japan, Hong Kong SAR, South Korea and the United Kingdom. Visitors from these five locations accounted for more than half of all Visa card spend on 8 August 2008." READ MORE

Visa today unveiled a new look for the ATM kiosks to be installed specially for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. According to Visa, "the artwork on the ATM kiosks has been inspired by Chinese culture and calligraphy. It uses blue and white brush strokes and traditional signature seal designs which are most recognizable on traditional Chinese porcelain vases." READ MORE

Discover Financial Services has announced the opening of a new subsidiary, Discover Information Technology (Shanghai) Ltd., in the People’s Republic of China, to support Discover’s data analysis and modeling operations. READ MORE

Shanghai SmartPay Jieyin, in partnership with China Unicom, China Unionpay and Huishang Bank, has launched its mobile wallet service for paying utility bills in Anhui Province. This service allows users to pay bills any time, any where, without having to go to banks or toll stations. SmartPay says" 'all they have to do is to send a SMS and bills are paid, saving time and cost.' READ MORE

CyberSource and China-based PayEase Technology Ltd. have announced a collaboration to facilitate merchants’ entry into the China market. With the PayEase/CyberSource solution, merchants gain support for both Chinese credit cards as well as debit cards from over 20 key banks. READ MORE

99Bill Corporation has upgraded its mobile payment service to enable mobile users in China to conduct transactions over mobile phones. According to the company, "the upgraded service is set to make the adoption of the mobile payment easier for both the end consumers as well as for the merchants."

99Bill Corporation, a third-party electronic payment services provider in China, has launched one-stop cross-bank services for credit card bill payment targeting 75 millions credit card holders in China.

TSYS has announced that China UnionPay Data Services Co., Ltd. (“CUP Data”), TSYS’ joint venture with China UnionPay (“CUP”), has successfully completed a bankcard conversion for Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (“SPDB”), one of the largest joint-stock commercial banks in China.

In a move it says is "aimed at enabling consumers in Mainland China to buy directly online from North American retailers," Alipay has announced a cooperation agreement with Philliou Selwanes Partners (PSP), a New York City based consulting and advisory firm, to promote the acceptance of its Chinese payment service to North American merchants.

The AP is reporting that the China Banking Regulatory Commission has announced that "Citigroup Inc. and four other banks will become the first foreign institutions allowed to issue credit cards on their own in China once they meet regulatory standards"

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Roadmap to Profit's in China's Credit Card Issuing Market" that provides both qualitative and quantitative analyses on the profitability of China's credit card issuing market.

GlobalPlatform has announced that its core device specification – also known as the GPD/STIP Specification – has been deployed in China through the Blue Bamboo H50 Terminal in the recent launch of the Beijing transit card contactless micro-payments scheme.

YeePay has announced that it has partnered with EachNet to provide payment solutions for its newly re-launched consumer-to-consumer online marketplace. According to YeePay, "as the sole payment provider working with EachNet, YeePay manages the money flows for EachNet's escrow payment service, which allows buyers and sellers to send and receive payments. YeePay also provides user identity verification service for EachNet."

People's Daily Online reports on an announcement by the People's Bank of China about the China National Advanced Payment System - a high-value payment system that enables instant clearing between banks nationwide. A bank spokesman also said "the central bank has also been promoting the use of bank cards, and nearly 1.3 billion bank cards had been issued."

"ONE Payment Alliance Corp., a collaborated payment processing service with ChinaPay, ECONTEXT, and INICIS, announced today it has launched an online payment processing service for China, Japan, and Korea market with a single interface, a single merchant service, and a single payment gateway to reach out to online consumers in the three largest economies in Asia. This alliance service is available to begin online payment processing services to many global merchants wishing to conduct online business in China, Japan and Korea immediately."

From the Shanghai Daily comes this report on China UnionPay's efforts to expand merchant card acceptance in China. "With the growth, UnionPay has 616,700 merchants and nearly one million points of sale."

99Bill has announced a strategic alliance with China Merchants Bank to jointly promote the online payment and online banking services in China.

Claus Lehmann writes for Springwise about PPdai, a new peer-to-peer lending business in China saying that "PPdai primarily aims to standardize and facilitate loans between family and friends, which are more common in China than personal loans from banks."

Lydia Chen reports for the Shanghai Daily that "individuals and companies can now use checks to pay for things in any city across China as a check imaging system was put into use by the central bank." Previously, checks could only be used in China in the city where issued.

China UnionPay Data (CUP Data) and Arcot Systems have announced a partnership that the two companies say will help minimize Internet transaction fraud. Under the licensing and development agreement, CUP Data will use Arcot’s TransFort family of solutions in the joint development of a common risk management outsourcing service for marketing to card issuers in China.

A global study of banking, retail and payment services executives' attitudes towards the burgeoning Chinese payments market conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of First Data International has revealed that the vast majority of respondents are optimistic about the prospects for electronic payments in China. Eighty-five percent of respondents, for example, believe the prospects for credit cards are either highly or somewhat promising. While bankers recognize the considerable challenges, they are bullish about the opportunities and are committed to this rapidly growing market.

George Chen reports for Reuters from Shanghai about plans by China's Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to double its credit card issuance this year to 20 million cards. "Beijing is encouraging officials to use credit cards to pay for goods and services as a way to reduce corruption, as they can help it to trace transaction records, government and regulatory sources have said."