Visa’s China clearing business gets approval: it has received “preparatory status,” not a formal license.
· On October 13, 2026, the People’s Bank of China approved Visa Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. to prepare to establish a bank card clearing institution.
· It must complete preparations within one year and then apply to begin operations. It may be issued a license only after approval by the People’s Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration.
· Until then, Visa cannot issue domestic RMB cards or conduct RMB clearing.
· In the short term, it will still be “difficult to get a foreign card, with high fees”; based on the roughly 19 months for American Express and 45 months for Mastercard, Visa’s RMB cards are unlikely to arrive before around 2028 at the earliest.
· China already has three players: China UnionPay, American Express, and Mastercard NUCC. If Visa gets a license, competition will expand to four players, though UnionPay will remain the dominant player.
In a nutshell: The outlook is positive, but the timeline needs to be extended. #visa
· On October 13, 2026, the People’s Bank of China approved Visa Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. to prepare to establish a bank card clearing institution.
· It must complete preparations within one year and then apply to begin operations. It may be issued a license only after approval by the People’s Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration.
· Until then, Visa cannot issue domestic RMB cards or conduct RMB clearing.
· In the short term, it will still be “difficult to get a foreign card, with high fees”; based on the roughly 19 months for American Express and 45 months for Mastercard, Visa’s RMB cards are unlikely to arrive before around 2028 at the earliest.
· China already has three players: China UnionPay, American Express, and Mastercard NUCC. If Visa gets a license, competition will expand to four players, though UnionPay will remain the dominant player.
In a nutshell: The outlook is positive, but the timeline needs to be extended. #visa