Cross-border payment giant PingPong curve to get a license There have been a number of payment licenses that have changed hands during the year

Reporter Li Bing

Another payment license changed hands.

On December 13, the securities daily reporter found through the sky eye inspection that the actual controller of the third-party payment institution Zhejiang Aerospace Electronics Information Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as : Aerospace Electronics) has undergone a change in industry and commerce a few days ago, and the cross-border payment giant PingPong indirectly holds 51% of the equity of Aerospace Electronics through the wholly-owned company Shanghai Yiqian Network Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shanghai Yiqian), becoming the largest shareholder, which means that PingPong Curve has obtained a third-party payment license.

For the specific situation of this transaction, the Securities Daily reporter contacted PingPong and did not get a response. It is worth noting that since the beginning of this year, there have been a number of payment licenses that have changed hands, and most of them are new entrants.

Aerospace electronics actual controller change

According to Tianyan, the equity of Shanghai Yiqian, the largest shareholder of Aerospace Electronics, changed a few days ago, the sole shareholder, Zhongmin Future Holding Group, withdrew, and Hangzhou Ping Pong Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. became the sole shareholder of Shanghai Yiqian, holding 100% of the shares. Hangzhou PingPing Ping Pong Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. is the operating entity of PingPong, a cross-border e-commerce financial service provider. At this point, PingPong has obtained a payment license.

Aerospace Electronics obtained a payment license in May 2012 and was approved to carry out prepaid card issuance and acceptance (Zhejiang Province) and Internet payment business (national), and completed the renewal in June 2017, and the validity period was extended to June 26, 2022.

PingPong is the world's first company founded by Chinese to specialize in providing global collections to Chinese cross-border e-commerce sellers. At present, it has set up local service teams in 8 countries and regions around the world, and has reached cooperation with more than 70 mainstream e-commerce platforms around the world, with business in more than 100 countries and regions.

As a cross-border e-commerce service platform, PingPong is one of the few Chinese companies to obtain a Payment License in Europe. Although PingPong claims to hold a European Luxembourg PI license, a European EMI license, a US MSB license, a Japanese related service qualification and a JPSA membership certification and a Chinese Hong Kong MoneyServiceOperator license, etc., the domestic third-party payment license has always been vacant. The holding of Aerospace Electronics is a key step for PingPong in the compliance exhibition industry.

Su Xiaorui, senior analyst of Analysys, told Securities Daily that the equity change, whether it is for payment institutions or for PingPong, is a win-win situation, which can not only improve PingPong's own compliance, but also help the development of Aerospace Electronics itself.

Payment licenses tend to be rationalized

Regulators have repeatedly pointed out that financial institutions must be licensed to operate. In this context, the reporter noted that since the beginning of this year, the third-party payment industry has ushered in many new players, and there have been many licenses to change owners.

For example, in March 2021, Huawei obtained a payment license in one fell swoop by acquiring 100% of the equity of a third-party payment company, Shenzhen Xunlian Zhifu Network Co., Ltd.; in June this year, Zhejiang China Commodity City Group Co., Ltd. acquired Express Payment for 449.3 million yuan; in October, a transaction announcement on Chongqing Property Rights Exchange Network showed that Chongqing Unipay Network Settlement Technology Co., Ltd. 100% equity transfer transaction was completed, and the official channel did not disclose the payment license transaction. However, there is widespread speculation that the buyer is actually a PICC financial service under Chinese Minmin Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Ltd., but it has not been officially confirmed; in November, the video platform Bilibili acquired a 65.5% stake in licensed payment institution Zhejiang Yongyi Electronic Payment Co., Ltd. for about 118 million yuan, officially obtaining a payment license.

At present, the acquisition of payment license enterprises is roughly divided into several types: First, with rich scenes and capital strength, payment can be embedded in various scenarios as a bottom facility, and then improve the ecosystem to build a closed loop internet attribute company. For example, Bilibili, ByteDance, Pinduoduo, Kuaishou, Ctrip, etc. have all acquired third-party payment licenses; second, cross-border enterprises.

In recent years, with the rapid growth of the scale of the cross-border e-commerce market, the lack of domestic payment licenses has also made the development of cross-border enterprises' related businesses face compliance problems.

There are indications that the total number of payment licenses is tightening. According to incomplete statistics of central bank data, as of December 14, the central bank has cancelled 42 payment licenses, and the number of latest payment licenses is only 229.

On the one hand, there is the wave of payment license trading, and on the other hand, the number of regulatory cancellations of payment licenses is increasing. Su Xiaorui said, "Compared with the transaction of payment licenses in previous years, the current market game is more rational, although the supply side of the payment license is the stock market, but with the successive entry of powerful players, the main body with payment needs and willing to pay high consideration is also decreasing." She stressed that on the one hand, e-commerce giants have accelerated the pace of seeking payment licenses to make up for the shortcomings of the financial ecosystem or compliance; on the other hand, small and medium-sized payment institutions have accelerated their withdrawal due to rising rates and untimely transformation.

Wang Pengbo further analyzed that from the current regulatory environment, it is still necessary to 'hold a certificate' involving financial business. It is expected that in the future, the payment license trading market will still be dominated by rational demand.