Chinese Central Bank Continues to Hit Payments Sector with Hefty Fines

588

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is keeping up the pressure on the country’s payments sector with the issuance of a hefty fine to Shanghai-based Sandpay.

PBOC’s Shanghai branch announced on 12 October that it had hit third-party payments company Sandpay (杉德支付网络服务发展有限公司) with penalties worth a total of 24.7333 million yuan (approx. USD$3.58 million) for regulatory breaches.

The Chinese central bank has hit multiple payments companies with fines above the ten million yuan threshold in 2018, including Gopay (国付宝), which received a 46.46 million yuan penalty, Card Info (卡友支付), which was hit with a 25.83 million yuan penalty, Union Mobile Financial Technology, which incurred a 24.25 million yuan penalty, and Yinsheng E-pay (银盛支付), which received a fine of 22.8 million yuan.

Data from stcn.com indicates that as of 5 July 2018 the Chinese central bank had cancelled the payments licenses of 33 companies, leaving 239 licenses in circulation.

Related stories 

PBOC Issues Over $10 Million in Penalties to Two Payments Providers for Illegal Transactions

PBOC Puts Pressure on Third Party Payments with over 30 Fines in 2018

Third Party Payment Providers Receive 34 Fines in First Half Totalling 45mn Yuan