【英语中国】Visa证实将封杀中国银联结算系统

Visa Inc. said Thursday it is introducing a ban on banks using China UnionPay Co.'s network to process international transactions with credit cards bearing the Visa and UnionPay symbols.

The decision comes at a time when international credit-card companies are feeling increasingly frustrated with their limited access to the lucrative Chinese market, where UnionPay has a monopoly on processing card payments.

The Chinese firm also has global ambitions and in recent years has signed agreements with banks around the world to accept UnionPay cards.

A China-based Visa spokeswoman said the ban is meant to reinforce existing rules on Visa's relevant global operations in a bid to protect card holders' interests. She said Visa hasn't set a timetable for when the ban will start.

'This is targeting settlement banks and not China UnionPay,' said Liu Jie, the Visa spokeswoman. Ms. Liu added that the ban results from a lack of training for its settlement bank clients and a series of irregularities committed by them in past years.

Despite the frustration felt by foreign credit-card companies at the limits to what they can do in China, they have yet to take a united front.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Trade Representative approached major global credit-card companies to assess interest in launching an action against the China in the World Trade Organization for restricting market access, but failed to garner any collective support.

Credit cards weren't popular in China until this century, but the number of cards issued in the country has grown exponentially on strong consumer demand.

As of June 30, 2009, the number of China-issued credit cards surged to 122 million from fewer than 50 million at the end of 2006, central bank data show. Comparatively, there were approximately three million credit cards in China in the middle of 2003, consulting firm McKinsey & Co. said.

A spokesman for MasterCard Inc. in China had no immediate comment on Visa's action.

Visa Inc.周四说，它将禁止银行利用中国银联(China UnionPay Co.)网络来处理Visa、银联联名信用卡的境外交易。

此间，由于在利润丰厚的中国市场准入受限，国际信用卡公司正越来越觉得气恼。银联在中国银行卡处理领域拥有垄断地位。

中国银联也有其全球扩张野心。近几年，它同世界很多地方的银行都签署了受理银联卡的协议。

Visa驻中国发言人刘婕说，这一禁令是为了强化Visa相关全球业务的已有规则，以保护持卡人利益。她说，禁令何时开始执行还没有时间表。

刘婕说，此举针对的是结算行，不是中国银联，出台禁令的原因是对结算行客户缺乏培训，而过去几年这些结算行也存在一系列的违规行为。

虽然外资信用卡公司对它们在中国受到的束缚而感到气恼，但它们还没有组成一个联合阵线。

今年早些时候，美国贸易代表接触了主要的几家国际信用卡公司，了解它们是否有意在世界贸易组织(WTO)框架下申诉中国限制市场准入，但并未获得任何联合支持。

在本世纪以前，信用卡在中国并不流行，但得益于强劲的消费需求，中国的信用卡发行量已出现井喷。

央行数据显示，截至2009年6月30日，中国已发行信用卡1.22亿张，较2006年年底时的5,000万张大幅增加。而2003年年中，据咨询公司麦肯锡(McKinsey & Co.)说，中国只有大量300万张信用卡。

万事达卡公司(MasterCard Inc.)驻中国发言人暂未对Visa的措施发表评论。