【Overseas Weekly】Wanshi Network Opens Free Trade Account Landing Iran plans to join the Russian payment system

"Overseas Weekly" is an important information column of financial technology and mobile payment for the week of going overseas created by mobile payment network, focusing on the aspects of enterprises going overseas, overseas market dynamics, overseas regulatory policies, etc., and improving the efficiency of readers to obtain information in a simple way.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has joined hands with the Public Security Bureau to crack down on professional foreign exchange crimes

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the Ministry of Public Security fully implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, conscientiously implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference and the Central Financial Work Conference, worked in concert, severely cracked down on illegal and criminal activities of foreign exchange such as underground banks, jointly cracked hundreds of criminal cases of exchange-type underground banks, investigated and dealt with more than 4,000 enterprises and individuals who illegally bought and sold foreign exchange through underground banks, fined and confiscated more than 1.7 billion yuan, effectively deterred illegal and criminal elements, effectively maintained the order of economic operation, and effectively prevented and controlled financial risks.

Master's network was officially opened

On May 9, Wanpsi Netlink announced its official opening, becoming the third bank card clearing institution to open in the domestic market in China. After the opening, Mastercard will start operating the Mastercard-branded bank card clearing business in China, cooperate with member institutions to issue Mastercard-branded bank cards for domestic and foreign use, and expand the acquiring business.

It is understood that on the opening day, more than 10 domestic commercial banks simultaneously launched more than 30 new "China Mastercard" bank card products.

One new direct participant has been added to the RMB cross-border payment system CIPS

In April 2024, one new direct participant was added to the Cross-border Payment System (CIPS); 6 new indirect participants, including 1 domestic and 5 overseas. Six new direct participants were approved, namely Bank of China (Brazil) S.A., Bank of China Riyadh Branch, Bank of China (Mexico) S.A., Bank of China (Hong Kong) S.A., Brunei Branch, Bank of Communications Co., Ltd., Tokyo Branch and Bangkok Bank of Thailand.

As of the end of April 2024, there were 1,518 participants in the CIPS system, including 141 direct participants and 1,377 indirect participants.

Illegal collection of personal information, Commodity City was notified

Recently, the Zhejiang Provincial Communications Administration notified 15 APPs that infringe on the rights and interests of users (the third batch in 2024), including the well-known commodity city in the industry. According to the report, the small commodity city was notified for two violations: illegal collection of personal information and mandatory, frequent and excessive request for permissions by APP.

The Shenzhen-Hong Kong cross-border data verification platform was put into trial operation

A few days ago, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong cross-border data verification platform was launched for trial operation in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. This is another innovative practice of accelerating the development of new productive forces and solidly promoting the high-quality development of the digital economy under the guidance of policies such as the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Plan for Comprehensively Deepening the Reform and Opening-up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone.

The Shenzhen-Hong Kong cross-border data verification platform is committed to building a new digital cross-border service infrastructure between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The platform is developed based on the underlying technology of domestic open-source blockchain (FISCO BCOS) and distributed data transmission protocol (DDTP), and uses the technical advantages of blockchain to tamper with non-tampering and traceability, and realizes the trusted verification of user-carried data with hash value cross-border verification. The platform itself does not do cross-border transmission and storage of the original data files, and only provides trusted verification services for business scenario institutions based on the hash value.

Hengqin and Hainan multi-functional free trade account business landed

On May 6, the Hainan Provincial Information Office held a series of press conferences on the theme of "Interpretation of Hainan Free Trade Port Policies" (the sixth session) - a special session on "The Official Launch of Multi-functional Free Trade Account". At the press conference, it was learned that the multi-functional free trade account of Hainan Free Trade Port was officially launched.

On the same day, under the guidance of the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the Administrative Measures for Multi-functional Free Trade Account Business in the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin were officially implemented, and 10 pilot banks in the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin successively launched multi-functional free trade account business.

Bank of Communications landed multi-functional free trade account business

Bank of Communications has successfully launched the multi-functional free trade account (EF account) business in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, opened corresponding types of EF accounts for eligible entities in the cooperation zone and overseas entities, and provided full-process financial service support in cross-border fund settlement, exchange, investment and financing. This is a powerful measure taken by the Bank of Communications to implement the "Hengqin Financial 30 Articles", which fully reflects the responsibility and responsibility of a major state-owned bank to actively serve the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Taiwan Launches Money Laundering Prevention Act

Taiwan recently passed a new law, called the "New Four Laws on Combating Fraud", which aims to further strengthen the crackdown on fraud and strictly regulate money laundering prevention measures. The Act includes the Fraud Crime Threat Prevention Act, the Money Laundering Prevention Act, the Technology Investigation and Protection Act, and the Communications Protection and Supervision Act.

Among them, the amendments to the Money Laundering Prevention Law are specifically aimed at virtual asset service providers, including three main directions of amendment. First, any VA service provider that fails to register with the money laundering control system will face up to 2 years in prison. Second, the law also adds a special type of money laundering offence, which stipulates a sentence of 6 months to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to NT$50 million for the use of virtual asset accounts and third-party payment accounts as money laundering tools.

Wanlihui upgrades the "three-piece set to sea"

Shi Wenyi pointed out that under the fierce external situation and competition, Chinese merchants going overseas can now realize worry-free business, management and finance with one account. To this end, compared with version 1.0 of the "Overseas Package" first launched at the 2023 Bund Conference, Wanlihui has launched a new version 2.0 of the "Overseas Package" at this ecological conference: the upgraded version will allow overseas merchants to sail faster and more energetically, and the fastest time to open an account in the world is 1 minute, and the countries and regions covered have also been upgraded from the original 43 to more than 200 now.

For the currencies and services that merchants are most concerned about, the currencies and services have also been fully upgraded. For example, the number of receiving currencies has increased from 14 to more than 30, of which 80% support T+0 arrival; The number of payment currencies has also increased from 41 to more than 100, of which 90% support T+0 arrival and RMB settlement and foreign exchange settlement.

Hunchun Rural Commercial Bank has suspended inward remittance business

Recently, Hunchun Rural Commercial Bank announced that from 0:00 on May 9, 2024, it will carry out system transformation work, and will close the international settlement related business system and suspend the inward remittance business. Inward remittances after this point will be refunded. The specific resumption time of the business will be notified separately. In addition, during this period, the account opening business in local and foreign currencies will be handled normally.

UnionPay International cooperates with the Tourism Authority of Thailand

Recently, UnionPay International and the Tourism Authority of Thailand signed a letter of intent for strategic cooperation in Bangkok, agreeing to jointly carry out brand promotion and marketing activities to provide tourists to Thailand with a more convenient and affordable cross-border payment experience.

UnionPay International and the National Tourism Administration of Thailand have reached a new strategic cooperation intention, which will further promote the coordinated development of payment and tourism industries. According to the agreement, as preferred partners, the two parties will leverage their respective advantages and resources to deepen cooperation in the fields of brand promotion, marketing and promotion, data sharing, etc., to provide tourists with more travel information, payment guides and exclusive UnionPay discounts, attract more tourists to Thailand, and inject new momentum into the local economic development.

HSBC suspends family office cooperation? Latest responses

In response to market news that HSBC will terminate its cooperation with Hong Kong family offices, HSBC responded that the above news is untrue, and HSBC will only terminate its independent asset management (IAM) business in Hong Kong and Singapore. An HSBC Asia Pacific spokesperson said that HSBC Global Private Banking has decided to terminate the IAM business due to business strategy considerations. The bank said it would do its best to assist the affected clients by making arrangements accordingly and continuing to provide suitable and comprehensive wealth management solutions to clients of single and multi-family offices.

Citi Credit Card has been officially discontinued

According to the previous announcement issued by Citibank (China) Co., Ltd., from May 6, the transaction function of Citibank China personal credit card will be suspended.

Sri Lanka Commercial Bank enables Alipay QR code payment

Sri Lanka Commercial Bank became the first bank in Sri Lanka to enable Alipay QR code payment under the unified Lanka QR code.

The bank said that once the new QR code deployment is completed, the bank's more than 50,000 business customers will be able to accept Alipay QR codes; About 28,000 other merchants with POS devices can contact their banks to enable the service.

Nepal's central bank QR code payment draft seeks public input

Recently, the Central Bank of Nepal's draft Regulations on International Retail Payments and QR Code Interbank Transactions for Mobile and Online Banking has been open for public comment. The draft caps Nepalese consumers on QR code payments in India at INR 100,000 (160,000 NPRes) per month, except for payment scenarios such as hotels, hospitals, and pharmacies. For third countries other than India, the limit for Nepalese consumers to purchase goods and services online from that country (whose currency should be exchangeable within Nepal) is US$2,000 per year, and the consumer must have a U.S. dollar account with a local bank in Nepal, and the goods or services purchased must be used locally in Nepal, and the annual online payment limit without a U.S. dollar account is limited to US$500. In terms of rates, QR code service charges should be set by the market and subject to the supervision and inspection of the Central Bank of Nepal.

Iran intends to access Russia's MIR payment and clearing mechanism

Recently, Rahimi, the trade commissioner of the Iranian Embassy in Russia, said that Iran is expected to access the Russian-led MIR payment and clearing mechanism in a few months, and Russian bank cards can be used in Iran, and the economic and trade relations between the two countries will be further consolidated and strengthened.

Two international payment giants, PayPal and Block, announced their latest results

Recently, two major international payment giants, PayPal and Block (formerly Square), have announced their financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024.

For PayPal, its revenue exceeded Wall Street analysts' consensus expectations, and profits also posted double-digit growth. According to the report, PayPal's net revenue in the first quarter was $7.699 billion, an increase of 9% compared with $7.040 billion in the same period last year; Net income was $888 million, up 12% from $795 million in the year-ago quarter.

Block, on the other hand, also reported strong earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, with revenue and adjusted earnings per share exceeding consensus expectations from Wall Street analysts. According to the report, Block's total net revenue in the first quarter was $5.957 billion, an increase of 19% compared with $4.990 billion in the same period last year; Excluding revenue from Bitcoin, Block's total net revenue in the first quarter was $3.23 billion, an increase of 14% compared to the same period last year. Block's net profit in the first quarter was $471 million, compared to a net profit of only $95.8 million in the same period last year, a significant year-over-year increase. It is worth noting that after the release of the earnings report in the middle of last week, Block's stock price rose sharply after hours.

Google已在印度推出数字钱包Google Wallet

On May 8, Google launched a digital wallet in India with a native integration. Google Wallet will allow Android users in India to store and access their boarding passes, gift cards, event tickets, and loyalty cards. You can add all of this information via a QR code, barcode, or link shared through Gmail, or by using the dedicated "Add to Google Wallet" button on partner apps.