Bank card price change, new policy, industry development, welcome opportunities

From September 6th, the Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission and the People's Bank of China jointly issued the "Notice on Improving the Pricing Mechanism for Bank Cards and Fees" began to be implemented. This means that the bank card fees will be fully adjusted again, and the price reform will be officially revised. Landing.

It is necessary to note that the bank card swiping fee is not charged to the cardholder, and the handling fee is the settlement fee between the merchant and the acquiring institution that serves it. The merchants pay the card processing fee to the institution providing the acquiring service according to the agreement of each other, and the issuing bank and UnionPay collect the service and network fees from the acquiring institution according to the government pricing.

The handling fee is the cost of the merchant, and the price reduction means lowering the cost of the merchant. Most of the parties gave a positive response to the price change of the new bank card fee.

Bank card rate re-explored the new low in the main market

Price reform is guided by the promotion of market-oriented reforms and the reduction of fees and charges

After the implementation of the bank card price reform policy, the National Development and Reform Commission spokesperson responded at the monthly routine press conference on September 14 to improve the pricing mechanism for bank card credit card fees.

In order to further reduce the operating costs of merchants, expand consumption, and promote the sustainable and healthy development of China's bank card industry, in March this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the People's Bank of China issued notices to improve the pricing mechanism for bank card credit card fees, and significantly reduce the rate of catering and other merchants. At the level, it is estimated that the annual expenditure on merchants will be reduced by about 7.4 billion yuan. The adjusted policy was successfully implemented as scheduled on September 6.

This policy adjustment is guided by the promotion of market-oriented reforms and the reduction of fees and charges. The main contents include: the collection of service fees from the government-guided price to the implementation of market-adjusted prices; the issuer’s service fees and network service fees are changed from government pricing to government guidance. Price and cap management, canceling merchant classification, distinguishing between debit card and credit card, respectively, lowering the cap rate level, and adjusting the single transaction fee capping control measures, and implementing preferential rate measures for some merchants.

The adjustment of the credit card fee policy mainly reduces the operating costs of merchants and does not involve charging cardholders. After the implementation, the market-adjusted price of the service provider with more competitive competition will be implemented, which will help to play the role of the market mechanism, keep the rate level reasonable and stable, promote the continuous innovation of service methods and improve the service quality of the acquiring institutions; Fees and network service fee rates will be reduced by about 50% in total, and merchants in department stores and other industries will be reduced by about 20%. Merchants such as supermarkets will maintain the issuer's service fee and network service fee rate during the transition period through preferential measures. . The above policies have reduced the cost of merchants, helped improve the business environment of merchants, and stimulated consumption. They will play an active role in expanding the coverage and transaction scale of bank card credit transactions and promoting the healthy development of trade and banking and bank card industry.

This time, the pricing mechanism for improving the bank card credit card fee is highly policy-oriented, with many adjustments and wide coverage. In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the policy, the National Development and Reform Commission and the People's Bank of China were carefully deployed, and the operating agencies worked in a division of labor and completed preparations for system transformation, joint testing and merchant agreement exchange. In the next step, the relevant departments will also pay close attention to the implementation of the new card processing fee mechanism, supervise and guide the relevant parties to implement the national policy, give full play to the role of the market mechanism, and maintain a reasonable and stable level of credit card processing fee rates.

The number of cards issued has exceeded 5.658 billion

Series price reform promotes the rapid development of the industry

According to the latest payment operation report released by the People's Bank of China, as of the end of the first quarter of 2016, the number of cards issued in China has exceeded 5.658 billion, and the per capita card is about 4.15, of which 0.30 are held per capita. In the same period, there were more than 16.7 million merchants in bank card networking, more than 23.54 million POS machines, and 888,800 ATM machines. The number of merchants, pos machines and ATMs were 111.3 times, 108.2 times and 18.9 times that of 2001 before the establishment of UnionPay.

Before the establishment of China UnionPay in 2002, China’s bank card payment penetration rate was only 4.68%. According to the latest “2016 First Quarter Payment System Operation” issued by the People’s Bank of China, the current bank card penetration rate has reached 48.35%. According to the data obtained from empirical research, for every 10% increase in the penetration rate of bank card payment in China, it can directly increase GDP by 0.5%.

The rapid development of bank cards is related to a series of price changes. Since 2002, bank cards have undergone three-dimensional price changes, which have promoted the rapid development of the industry.

China’s bank card processing rate was first quoted with reference to international organizations, with a handling rate of 2% and higher pricing. In order to reduce the rate, before the current round of fee adjustment, in 2003 and 2013, the bank card credit card fee was categorized and classified twice, and the low rate of bank cards in the world's major markets was created. Record.

The price plan implemented before this price change is the implementation of the card processing fee issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the People's Bank of China on February 25, 2013. According to different industry categories, the merchants charge the card processing fee according to different rates. The catering industry has the highest level, reaching 1.25%, and some public welfare merchants have made full reductions. Compared with the US 2%-3% commission rate, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan 1.5-2% rate and Japan and South Korea 1.5%-3% credit card rate, 0-1.25% rate is far lower than the overseas market average .

However, due to the large price gap between the industries, on the one hand, the high-rate industry price reduction calls represented by catering continue to continue. On the other hand, violations of the spreads between different types of merchants in different MCC codes (industry rates) have been repeatedly prohibited.

In November 2014, the General Office of the State Council put forward in the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of Domestic Trade Circulation" that it is necessary to "improve the pricing mechanism for bank card credit card fees as soon as possible, cancel the industry classification of credit card processing fees, and further reduce the overall catering industry. The card processing fee is spent, and the National Development and Reform Commission and the People's Bank of China are required to start related work before the end of 2014.

In December 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission and the People's Bank of China launched a new round of price adjustment. The various parties in the industry, including the regulatory authorities, industry associations, UnionPay, commercial banks and non-Gold institutions, discussed and repeatedly communicated over the past 16 months, establishing the overall direction and specific criteria for “separation of loans and cancellation of industry classification”.

On March 18 this year, the Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Bank of China on Improving the Pricing Mechanism for Bank Card Credit Cards was officially released.

The core tenet of the price reform new policy lies in three points: First, the service fee of the issuing bank and the network service fee of the bank card clearing institution are changed from the government pricing to the government-guided price and the upper limit management, and the receiving service fee is changed from the government-guided price. The market adjusts the price; the second is that the card-issuing service fee is subject to differential pricing of borrowing, that is, “separation of borrowing and lending”. The UnionPay network service fee is charged to both the issuing card and the acquiring institution. The third is to cancel the commercial industry classification pricing and bid farewell to the “MCC” era. However, for supermarkets, large warehouse stores, water and electricity gas payment, fueling, transportation and ticketing merchants, the preferential rate is determined according to the principle of “maintaining the overall stability of the rate level”, the preferential period is 2 years; for non-profit medical institutions and educational institutions Social welfare institutions, pensions and charities shall implement full reduction of service fees and network service fees for issuing banks.

Make the price structure related to the cost structure

Find a balance between the interests of all parties

Chen Hongmin, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Shanghai Jiaotong University, analyzed that the reform of the pricing mechanism has achieved mutual benefit and win-win for all parties in the industry: “For merchants, the overall rate has been greatly reduced, improving its business environment; For acquirers and transfer clearing institutions, it is a reasonable return to make the price structure related to the cost structure."

Yu Lin, deputy secretary-general of the China Payment and Clearing Association, said that the adjustment of the bank card processing fee is conducive to improving the business environment of the merchants, reducing the operating costs of the merchants, promoting circulation, expanding consumption, providing some convenience to the people and the impact on the market. It is very huge.

Experts also believe that the New Deal has a positive significance for the differential pricing of debit and credit cards. Yang Tao, assistant to the director of the Institute of Finance of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that different policy arrangements were made for the service fees of card-issuing debit and credit card transactions, and that there were differences in the composition of transaction costs and business risk characteristics between the two types of bank cards. It is conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of commercial banks, promoting credit cards and expanding credit consumption business.

A number of third-party payers believe that the New Deal has clarified the principle of market-based pricing for acquiring orders, which will further intensify competition in the payment industry, and the industry may face a reshuffle. The New Deal also helps to promote third-party payment institutions to accelerate business innovation and business model upgrades.

The price of China's bank card fee is changed by the price cut route, but it may not be as low as possible. Wang Weiguo, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, believes that it is human nature that merchants hope that the rate will be lowered and then lowered. However, if the maximum benefit of one party exceeds the balance of interests of all parties, it may lead to the result of "both lose both."

Dong Xiwei, a visiting researcher at the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University of China, put forward the concept of “expected management”. He believes that from the perspective of price level, China's credit card rate is much lower than that of foreign countries. There is no room for decline. It should deliver correct expectations to the market. It cannot be used as a simple evaluation standard.

Dong Wei, editor-in-chief of "I Love Cards", said that he did not want to see that one day, when the card processing fee reached "there was no drop", banks and acquirers lost the incentive to improve the environment of the acquiring market, and the bank card market Lost the momentum of development.

Yang Tao said that any reform is difficult to meet the interests of all people. It should actively assist the merchants who provide opinions, assist them to adapt to the new challenges brought by the market-oriented mechanism, and rely on the cooperation of the platform industry chain to provide more support and protection. This is also the concern after the price change.