Payments giant China UnionPay is spruiking measures adopted at the behest of regulators to cut fees and “transfer profits” to Chinese small businesses.
“China UnionPay has always actively implemented the concept of ‘payments for the people,'” said the company in an official statement released on 8 March.
“[UnionPay] will work with member institutions to drive relevant fee reduction and profit transfer measures, and drive financial inclusion and general convenience.
“[UnionPay] will strictly implement the work arrangements of the People’s Bank of China, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation to reduce payments processing fees for micro-and-small enterprises and individual industrial and commercial proprietors.”
UnionPay said that starting from 30 September 2021 UnionPay had provided processing fee reductions and exemptions for cross-bank transfers using micro-and-small enterprise cards and unit settlement cards, that are set to continue for a three-year period.
In June last year UnionPay also launched its “Helping Commerce and Benefiting the People – Red Fire Plan” (助商惠民-红火计划), which provides fee benefits for QR code transactions to micro-and-small enterprises in the food and beverage, retail and tourism sectors.
According to UnionPay the number of financial and payments institutions taking part in the Red Fire plan currently exceed 50, covering more than 3.5 million vendors.
