Reduced foreign card transaction fees! Multiple banks: Follow-up

Source: Financial Times

The foreign card transaction fee has finally been reduced!

According to relevant sources in the payment industry, domestic acquirers have lowered the handling fees of offline card transactions of merchants except for some specific industries according to the fee reduction notice issued by Visa and Mastercard, and the acquirer has basically completed the fee reduction work at the end of June, including the transformation of the merchant rate system, merchant notification, agreement replacement, etc., and will make good use of this fee policy dividend in the future, further strengthen the construction of foreign card acquiring scenarios, and effectively serve the payment convenience of overseas people in China.

Domestic acquirers have reduced the handling fees of offline card transactions of merchants except for some specific industries in accordance with the fee reduction notices issued by Visa and Mastercard, and the acquirers have basically completed the fee reduction work at the end of June, including the transformation of the merchant rate system, merchant notification, agreement replacement, etc., and will make good use of this fee policy dividend in the future, further strengthen the construction of foreign card acquiring scenarios, and effectively serve the payment convenience of overseas people coming to China.

The Financial Times reporter learned that at present, a number of banks have announced that they will actively follow up and adjust the acquiring fee rate of the corresponding merchants, and transfer the profit points of the card network to the merchants.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

ICBC said that on June 15, after the implementation of the fee reduction policy by the two international card organizations of Visa and Mastercard, ICBC actively followed up and adjusted the acquiring fee rate of the corresponding merchants, and transferred the card network profit to the merchants, so as to continue to reduce the acceptance cost of merchants, benefit more merchants, better improve the foreign card acceptance environment, and improve the convenience of payment for overseas visitors to China.

Up to now, ICBC has accepted 200,000 foreign card POS merchants, fully covering key scenarios such as "food, housing, transportation, travel and shopping" for foreign visitors to China. In the early stage, ICBC took the foreign card acquiring business as the entry point, and focused on innovating and launching foreign card acquiring product packages such as foreign card binding, cross-border e-commerce foreign card acquiring, and outsourcing for internal use, aiming at the payment habits of inbound people, solving the pain points of payment services, and striving to improve the multi-level and diversified payment service system.

Abc

Agricultural Bank of China said that since the implementation of the preferential foreign card rate policy of international card associations on June 15, Agricultural Bank of China has actively responded to the fee reduction notice and transferred all the preferential rates to merchants, which has benefited more than 45,000 merchants, effectively reducing the cost of accepting foreign cards for merchants and helping to create a better business environment.

ABC follows the working idea of "large-value card swiping, small-amount QR code scanning, cash pocket, and convenience for the elderly", and continues to improve the payment service experience of the elderly, foreign visitors and other groups by improving the "hard environment", enhancing "soft services" and building "multiple scenarios". Since the beginning of this year, ABC has continued to strengthen the construction of the foreign card acceptance environment, focusing on industries such as "food, housing, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment, and medical care", expanding the coverage of foreign card merchants, carrying out merchant publicity and training, and improving the level of foreign card acceptance services. Since the beginning of this year, the amount of outdoor card transactions of ABC acquirers has increased by 157% year-on-year, and the number of transactions has increased by 188% year-on-year.

In order to better provide an efficient and convenient payment experience for overseas visitors to China, ABC has released graphic tutorials such as introduction to wild card knowledge and acceptance operation guidelines through online channels, and carried out remote teaching for merchants, with more than 300,000 online tweets read. Combined with regional characteristics, we will deploy promotional materials such as leaflets and posters for wild card acceptance guides, and carry out cashier training on site, covering all key merchants. In addition, ABC has created a unique series of acceptance signs called "Only This Green", which are posted in conspicuous locations such as merchants' cash registers, sliding doors, reservation boards, and bill folders, so that overseas visitors to China can experience convenient payment and feel the charm of traditional Chinese culture.

Bank of China

Bank of China said that in accordance with the announcement of fee reduction by Visa and Mastercard, Bank of China will implement fee reductions for foreign card acquirers who meet the scope of card network fee reductions from June 15, and transmit the fee reduction dividends to merchants in a timely manner to help merchants reduce costs, increase efficiency and promote development, and support the recovery of the consumer market.

Implement national policies and optimize the environment for accepting wild cards. Bank of China has actively leveraged its traditional advantages in foreign card acquiring and taken multiple measures to increase the expansion of foreign card acquiring merchants, and the number of foreign card merchants accepted has doubled compared with the beginning of the year, setting a record high growth rate. It covers key scenarios such as "food, housing, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment, medical care, and learning" in 17 key cities, providing a broader and more convenient payment environment for overseas people coming to China.

Implement key projects to enhance brand influence. Bank of China continues to increase its investment in resources and fully improve the environment for accepting wild cards for major international events and international events such as the 135th Canton Fair, the 2024 FISU Football World Cup, and the 2024 Dalian Summer Davos Forum. At the same time, Bank of China has deepened its close cooperation with all parties and implemented a number of internal and external card acquiring service cooperation projects, such as Volkswagen Transportation Taxi, Suzhou Metro, Xi'an Metro and Fuzhou Port Huangqi Ferry Terminal, contributing to the promotion of high-level opening-up and serving the society and people's livelihood.

China Construction Bank

CCB said that CCB has reduced the foreign card service rate for merchants who meet the fee reduction standards of international organizations, and passed on the preferential handling fee to merchants, effectively reducing the cost of accepting commercial cards and reducing the burden on merchants, which has been affirmed by merchants.

CCB continued to focus on the expansion of foreign card merchants, and focused on the needs of the whole journey of "food, housing, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment and medical care", and grasped the "three priorities", i.e., key business districts for inbound consumption activities, key venues for cultural and entertainment tourism, and key areas for daily people's livelihood. Since the beginning of this year, the construction of the foreign card acceptance environment has achieved a significant breakthrough in a short period of time, quadrupling compared with the beginning of the year, the transaction amount increased by 111% year-on-year, and the number of transactions increased by 175% over the same period, providing foreign card acquiring services for nearly 400 four-star and five-star hotels across the country, opening wild card acceptance for famous scenic spots and surrounding merchants such as Zhangjiajie, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Pingyao Ancient City, Longmen Grottoes, etc., and has completed the transformation of 300 tertiary hospitals to provide payment convenience and high-quality services for overseas consumers and merchants. Especially in Shanghai, the Shanghai branch has provided foreign card POS services to more than 1,000 merchants, including Lawson, Liangyou, 7-Eleven and other well-known convenience stores, with 24-hour convenient services to enhance the goodwill of overseas people.

Actively implementing the central government's policy of "accelerating the construction of a tourism power", CCB Seoul Branch and CCB Hunan Branch strengthened domestic and foreign linkage, cross-border links with well-known Chinese and Korean financial, aviation, tourism and hotel enterprises, and jointly launched the integrated brand of "Zhangjiajie Ingenuity Service" to realize the integrated closed-loop management of tourist aviation services, financial payment services, hotels and tourism services, and comprehensively optimized payment scenarios and services based on the actual payment needs of Korean tourists, and installed CCB POS machines in Zhangjiajie Huatian Hotel. It fully accepts the bank card swiping business of international card associations such as UnionPay, VISA, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, etc., and also supports the QR code payment such as NAVER PAY in South Korea, and at the same time issues Korean payment instructions to Korean tourists to improve the card experience of tourists in China.

Bank of Communications

Bank of Communications said that on June 15, Bank of Communications implemented the price adjustment of the acceptance fee of outdoor cards of designated industry merchants, transferred all the preferential rates lowered by international card associations to merchants, and effectively communicated with merchants, and the price adjustment work was stable and smooth.

In recent years, Bank of Communications has continuously improved the acceptance environment for foreign card payments, enriched the supply of payment services, and promoted the seamless connection of domestic and international payments. At present, Bank of Communications has fully accepted online and offline consumption transactions of overseas bank cards of five major foreign card organizations, including Visa and MasterCard. All Bank of Communications outlets nationwide have cash self-service machines with foreign card cash withdrawal functions, and all provincial branches can accept applications from local merchants to open foreign card acquiring business.

Bank of Communications has increased the expansion of foreign card acquiring business at high-frequency key merchants for foreigners in key cities, such as hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, retail, cultural tourism, entertainment, transportation (including airports, docks and stations), and has built and optimized an all-round foreign card payment acceptance environment for foreigners to accept "food, shopping, accommodation and travel", which has been widely praised by merchants and foreigners. As of the end of May, Bank of Communications had achieved full coverage of key merchants in 17 key cities, with a net increase of 221% in the number of merchants accepting foreign cards compared with the end of February, and a year-on-year increase of 132% in transaction volume in the past three months.