Optimize payment services to break through payment blockages, so that the elderly and "foreigners" no longer have money to spend

On May 7, at the Overseas Guest Payment Service Center of Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport, passengers from Hungary were consulting about overseas bank card payment business. Photo by reporter Wang Zheng

□ reporter Li Yunhai

"With a machine in hand, go all over the world." Nowadays, mobile payment is widely used in car, ticket, shopping and other consumption, bringing great convenience to people. At the same time, the "rapid growth" of mobile payment has also brought some inconvenience to the elderly, as well as foreign tourists and business people who come to Yu.

How to bridge the "digital divide" and let everyone enjoy the convenience of life? Recently, the General Office of the Provincial Government issued the "Implementation Plan for Further Optimizing Payment Services and Improving Payment Convenience in Henan Province" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), focusing on improving the multi-level and diversified payment service system, providing more high-quality, efficient and convenient payment services for the elderly, foreign personnel and other groups, and ensuring that "how to pay is convenient and easy to use" in Henan.

Attachment point

Improve the convenience of payment for the elderly and foreign arrivals

On May 6, in the cultural and creative shop on the first floor of the Henan Museum, a tourist from France took out his Mastercard and successfully completed the payment on the POS machine of the wild card when shopping. He said that now when he comes to China for tourism and shopping, he can also "travel all over China with one card".

It turned out that this was a new service implemented by the Henan Museum in February this year. The relevant person in charge of the Henan Museum said that since last year, the number of foreign tourists visiting the Henan Museum has increased significantly, but because there are only Alipay, WeChat, as well as domestic bank cards, cash and other payment methods, it is very inconvenient for foreign tourists to pay for consumption. Therefore, the Henan branch of the Bank of Communications has opened international payment services for 4 cultural and creative shops and 3 restaurants in the Henan Museum. International credit cards such as MasterCard and Visa can be used at these stores at real-time exchange rates.

The relevant person in charge of the Henan branch of the People's Bank of China said that the "Implementation Plan" clearly requires that the focus should be on improving the convenience of payment for groups such as the elderly and foreign arrivals, so as to make consumption payment more convenient for these groups.

Our province is a province with a large economy and a large population, and the base of the elderly group is large. In recent years, the scale of overseas people who come to Henan to invest in business, study and exchange, travel and leisure is also increasing, and the elderly and foreigners have a strong demand for payment facilitation in Henan. According to a survey by the People's Bank of China, more than 75% of the elderly regularly use cash, and many foreign tourists and business people still use cards or cash to pay in China. Therefore, it is necessary to take multiple measures to break through the service blockages and promote the parallel development and complementarity of mobile payment, bank cards, cash and other payment methods.

It is imperative to provide more high-quality, efficient and convenient payment services for the elderly, foreign visitors and other groups, and continue to optimize the structure of the payment market. The "Implementation Plan" proposes that, on the one hand, it is necessary to improve the versatility of electronic payment in public services and convenience scenarios. For example, by promoting the age-appropriate transformation of mobile payment, improving the convenience of binding overseas bank cards and third-party payments, and improving payment tools and scenarios suitable for the elderly and foreign people in China. On the other hand, merchants are encouraged to more actively use cash, bank cards, mobile payments and other payment methods to meet the payment preferences of different groups.

breakthrough

Strengthen the construction of key areas and key scenes

The "Implementation Plan" proposes to take the construction of key areas and key scenarios as a breakthrough, continue to enrich the supply of payment services such as bank card acceptance, cash payment, mobile payment, account services, publicity and promotion, and continuously improve the level of payment services in the province. It also puts forward three stages of work goals: by the end of May 2024, complete the formulation of the list of key merchants, and explore the formation of demonstration experience in key areas and key scenarios; By the end of August 2024, the convenience of payment in key areas and key scenarios will be significantly improved; By the end of December 2024, the main tasks and measures to optimize payment services will be effective, and an all-round, multi-level, barrier-free and efficient payment service system will be basically formed in the province.

What are the key areas and key scenarios?

The "Implementation Plan" clearly states that all localities should focus on scenarios such as "food, housing, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment, and medical care", and formulate a directory of key places and key merchants such as large-scale business districts, tourist attractions, tourist resorts, nighttime cultural and tourism consumption clusters, cultural and museum venues, cultural and entertainment venues, hotels, transportation hubs, hospitals, etc., and strive to promote more than 50% of key merchants to accept overseas bank cards by the end of May 2024, and strive to achieve that all key merchants can accept overseas bank cards by the end of August 2024.

At the same time, in order to better protect consumers' right to pay choices, key places such as large-scale business districts, tourist attractions, tourist resorts, cultural and museum venues, cultural and entertainment venues, hotels, transportation hubs, and hospitals must be equipped with necessary software and hardware facilities such as mobile payment, bank cards, and cash, so as to ensure that consumers can choose payment methods and tools independently. Encourage business districts, tourist attractions, tourist resorts, cultural and museum venues, cultural and entertainment venues, hotels, transportation hubs, hospitals, etc., that are not included in the directory of key venues and key merchants, to actively create conditions for handling them in a similar manner, and jointly build an inclusive and diverse payment acceptance environment. Post signs such as overseas bank card swiping, ATM bank card cash withdrawal, cash collection, and personal domestic and foreign currency exchange, strengthen the training of business personnel, and strive to complete the posting of signs in key places and key merchants by the end of August 2024.

To this end, the Henan Branch of the People's Bank of China, in accordance with the general idea of "large-value card swiping, small-amount code scanning, and cash pocketing", guides banking institutions and payment institutions in its jurisdiction to equip the necessary software and hardware facilities to accept various payment tools, and actively builds a diversified payment service environment in which mobile payment, bank card, cash and other payment methods develop in parallel and complement each other, so as to ensure that all kinds of people "have money to spend and money to spend" in Yu.

New goals

Focus on key scenarios and create a model for Henan payment

To implement and optimize payment services, our province has acted quickly, and various localities have frequently taken measures to further "clear" the payment barriers for the elderly and foreign arrivals. More and more hotels and scenic spots can be paid directly with foreign cards, and the number of outlets that support foreign visitors to Henan to handle business is also increasing rapidly.

At present, 70,995 merchants in the province can accept overseas bank cards, of which the coverage rate of key merchants is 50.57%, ensuring that foreign visitors to Henan can conveniently swipe cards in hotels, scenic spots, souvenir sales points and other scenarios with mainstream overseas bank cards. Overseas personnel can use Alipay or WeChat Pay to bind their overseas bank cards to make payments, apply for a top-up "Travel Card" online on the UnionPay app with valid documents, use the UnionPay app to make payments, or use overseas mobile payment tools to scan the merchant's UnionPay QR code for payment. At the same time, the province has also added foreign currency exchange points in key hotels and key scenic spots to ensure the convenient exchange between major foreign currency currencies and RMB, and the province supports 2,496 foreign currency exchange bank outlets and 14 foreign currency exchange agencies.

At the same time, our province gathers key scenes to create a model of Henan payment.

Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport, as the first stop for inbound personnel arriving in Henan, is a key point for our province to optimize the payment service for foreign people coming to Henan, and it is also an important window to show the payment facilitation of our province. The Henan Branch of the People's Bank of China guided the Henan Branch of the Bank of China and the Henan Airport Group to jointly build the "Overseas Guest Payment Service Center" and the payment service demonstration area of Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport in accordance with the standards of creating a "Henan Model" for optimizing payment services, and arranged staff who are proficient in English and familiar with foreign-related scenarios to be on duty on site, providing professional and one-stop payment services such as mobile payment tool opening, overseas bank card binding, cash withdrawal, currency exchange and domestic bank card opening guidance. The centre was inaugurated on 30 April this year.

On April 9 this year, the "2024 China (Henan)-ASEAN People-to-People Exchange Month" opened in Henan. During the event, in response to the payment needs of foreign guests in ASEAN, our province organized and guided relevant banking institutions and payment institutions to upgrade and upgrade 102 POS machines and 2 ATM machines for accepting foreign card acquiring, trained 124 merchant cashiers, set up 10 payment service teams, organized banking institutions to put 1,685 "coin purses", coordinated 5 banking institutions to provide foreign currency exchange services, and promoted the solution of the "ASEAN Market" activity Overseas merchant collection and settlement guarantee, and quickly provided relevant hotels, scenic spots, and "ASEAN Market". and other key scenarios are equipped with the necessary software and hardware facilities for payment services to accurately improve the payment convenience of foreign guests.