【英语中国】Visa与中国银联反目

Visa has told banks they must stop using the payment system of Chinese state-backed China UnionPay to process international transactions for co-branded Visa and UnionPay credit cards.

The move comes as credit card companies are becoming increasingly frustrated in China, where transactions must be conducted through the monopoly UnionPay, which is aggressively expanding beyond China's borders.

Visa has written to banks to remind them of operating regulations that require financial institutions to process international transactions outside China through Visa's system.

If banks did not comply with Visa's request, the card company said it would start to charge penalties from August 1.

Visa's move to block UnionPay outside China comes after US trade officials held talks in late March with Visa, American Express and MasterCard over the possibility of taking action against China for shutting them out of its growing payment processing market.

China does not allow foreign groups to issue their own credit cards, build networks to support such cards or process interbank point-of-sale transactions. Companies such as Visa are required to “co-brand” with Chinese partners to provide any of these services.

China banks generally charge fewer and lower fees than international competitors, and Un-ionPay has been offering cardholders better exchange rates on certain currencies than Visa and its peers normally charge.

Although Visa said its actions were not aimed at limiting UnionPay's international expansion, the China group responded with a scathing statement.

“Both companies have a responsibility and obligation to provide overseas transaction services to co-branded card holders,” UnionPay said. “Neither side has the right to unilaterally restrict cardholders' options for overseas payment channels.”

Some US lawyers, trade officials and finance executives say China is violating commitments it made on joining the World Trade Organisation in 2001 to open the market to foreign companies for “all payment and money transmission services, including credit, charge and debit cards” by the end of 2006.

UnionPay was established by China's central bank in 2002 and is owned by more than 80 Chinese state-controlled banks.

While US card groups complain they are blocked from doing business in China, UnionPay-branded cards can be used in more than 90 countries and regions and the company is strongly promoting its cards abroad.

Visa已告知银行，它们必须停止使用中国银联(China UnionPay)的支付系统来处理“Visa、银联”联合品牌信用卡的国际交易。银联是一家具有政府背景的公司。

此举是在信用卡公司对中国市场日益感到灰心之时出台的。在中国，信用卡交易必须通过占据垄断地位的银联处理，银联同时还在大力拓展中国境外的业务。

Visa已致函银行，提醒它们遵守相关经营规定，即金融机构必须通过Visa的支付系统来处理上述信用卡在中国境外的国际交易。

Visa表示，如果银行不按它的要求行事，它将从今年8月1日起，对收单银行进行罚款。

Visa出台上述在中国境外封堵银联的举措前，美国贸易官员曾在今年3月底与Visa、美国运通(American Express)和万事达(MasterCard)举行磋商，讨论是否针对中国把这三家公司排斥在其日益发展的支付处理市场之外采取行动。

中国不允许外国信用卡集团在中国境内发行自己的信用卡，也不允许它们建立支持这类信用卡的网络和处理银行间POS交易。Visa这类公司若想提供上述服务，必须采取与中方合作伙伴“联合品牌”的形式。

中国各银行收取的刷卡手续费普遍比国际竞争对手更少更低。相较Visa等信用卡公司通常提供的兑换汇率，银联对某些货币为持卡人提供更优惠的兑换汇率。

尽管Visa表示，上述行动不是为了限制银联在海外的扩张，但银联仍以一份措辞严厉的声明做出回应。

银联表示：“两家公司均有责任和义务为‘银联、Visa'双标识卡持卡人提供境外受理服务。任何一方都无权单独对持卡人选择境外支付通道做出限制。”

一些美国律师、贸易官员和金融高管表示，中国违反了它在2001年加入世贸组织(WTO)时做出的承诺，即在2006年年底前，向外国公司开放“包括信用卡、赊账卡和借记卡在内的所有支付及汇划服务”市场。

银联是由中国央行在2002年创建的，股东是80多家中国国有控股银行。

在美国信用卡集团抱怨自己受到封堵、无法在中国开展业务之际，银联品牌的信用卡却可在全球90多个国家和地区使用。该公司目前正在海外大力推销银联品牌的信用卡。

译者/汪洋