The People’s Bank of China recently issued the Measures for the Administration of Payment Card Business of Payment Institutions (Draft for Comments). Under the new regulation, each registered payment card can carry a maximum value of Rmb5,000 but unregistered payment cards cannot hold more than Rmb1,000.
The Measures proposes that electronic cash, electronic wallets and other chip-based payment cards for fast payments in small amounts carry a cash limit of Rmb1,000 and that add-value cards for recharging registered payment cards issued by card-issuing institutions to clients using their real names for online personal payment carry a cash limit of Rmb100.
Registered payment cards do not have an expiry date. They may be reported for loss and may be redeemed. Unregistered cards may not be reported for loss but may have a validity set at not less than three years. Electronic cash and electronic wallets may not be reported for loss but may have a pre-set validity of not less than three years.
The Measures requires buyers of registered card or unregistered card worth more than Rmb10,000 to give their real names. The card issuer should check the identity of the card buyers, register their basic personal information, verify the validity of their identity papers, and keep photocopies of their valid identity papers.
The Measures strictly forbids the following recharging activities: Using registered payment cards to recharge unregistered payment cards; recharging between payment cards issued by different card issuers; using payment cards other than add-value cards to recharge online payment accounts; using payment cards to recharge or make transfers to bank accounts; recharging between payment cards and single-purpose payment cards; and using phone cards, mobile add-value cards, public transport cards and video game cards to recharge payment cards.
