A man walks in front of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, in Beijing. Photo: CFP
Internet giants Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings both said Tuesday that users of their wealth management products will not be affected by a draft rule released by China's central bank.
The People's Bank of China (PBC) released draft rules last week to major banks for consultation, financial news portal aastocks.com reported on Monday. The measures would ban the payment companies from handling offline transactions.
They would also heavily limit spending by individuals using third-party payment platforms and transfers from bank accounts to accounts managed by third-party companies. The draft rules restrict single purchases using third-party payment accounts to 5,000 yuan ($810), with a monthly limit of 10,000 yuan.
"We have given feedback to the PBC, and are in close communication with it," Alipay, Alibaba's third-party payment platform, said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.
"The document is still under consultation," the statement said. "Based on our understanding of the policy and communication with regulatory departments, Yu'ebao users have not been and will not be affected in the future."
Tencent also in a Tuesday statement ensured users that Licaitong services will not be affected, as users conduct money transfers from bank cards directly instead of using a third-party payment account.
Last week, China's central bank also suspended the use of payments made by scanning quick response (QR) codes with mobile devices and halted the rollout of online credit cards by Tencent and Alibaba.
There are still concerns about payments via scanning QR codes. The suspension would be lifted when the standard is set up, Cai Hongbo, executive vice president of the Payment and Clearing Association of China, said at a forum Tuesday in Beijing.
China's online and mobile payment transactions have been growing at a fast pace. The online payment market last year increased by 47 percent to 5.37 trillion yuan in transactions, according to Beijing-based consultancy iResearch.
