Beijing, November 10

China will not impose tough licensing restrictions on overseas bank card providers seeking to enter the country’s $7 trillion card payment market, a senior central bank official said today.

Industry sources said in October they were concerned Chinese government would limit number of licences issued to foreign card providers and force them to operate through joint ventures.

However Fan Yifei, a vice governor at People’s Bank of China, said there are no plans to bring in such requirements. “We’ll actively and cautiously open up China’s card payment market according to laws and regulations, and encourage fair competition,” Fan said.

Foreign card firms, including Visa and MasterCard, have been lobbying for more than a decade for direct access to China’s fast-growing cards market, which is projected to become the world’s biggest by 2020.

The State Council announced in April that China would allow foreign firms to apply to the central bank for licences to operate bank card clearing businesses from June 1.