To thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, on May 11, 2024, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) held a meeting on optimizing payment services, aiming to summarize what has been done in the previous stage and further facilitate the payment services for elderly people, foreign visitors to China and other groups. PBOC Deputy Governor Zhang Qingsong attended and addressed the meeting.
It was noted at the meeting that the CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to payment facilitation. Taking this as a major task, the PBOC has cooperated with relevant departments and local governments in an efficient way to accelerate the formation of a sound and all-round policy system, establish a special working mechanism, and encourage commercial banks and non-bank payment institutions to implement a mix of policy measures and make joint efforts. Focusing on key cities, institutions, and scenes, the PBOC has taken multiple measures to optimize payment services, and taken solid steps to remove the blockages in payment services. All these efforts have achieved remarkable progress, with substantial growth in both the amount and number of transactions.
It was required at the meeting that all the relevant parties should conscientiously implement the requirements stipulated in the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Optimizing Payment Services to Facilitate Payments, draw lessons from the previous work, make continued efforts and ride on the momentum to strive for greater breakthroughs. Starting by properly addressing the current issues, all parties should take a long-term perspective, and carry out key tasks centered on bank card acceptance, cash payment, foreign currency exchange, mobile payment, account service, and publicity and promotion in a more scientific, targeted and precise manner. Moreover, all parties should adopt a realistic and problem-oriented approach to build a high-quality and sustainable payment environment.
Attendees included officials from the relevant PBOC departments, PBOC branches in provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and cities specifically designated in the state plan, relevant departments of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, major commercial banks, non-bank payment institutions, and China UnionPay.
