SHANGHAI, April 28 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- On April 23, 2009, China's Central Bank held a coordination meeting regarding formation of China's National Payment and Settlement Association in Beijing. The meeting was hosted by Ou Yang Weiming, Director General of Payment and Settlement Department of the Central Bank. Major commercial banks and non-financial payment & settlement organizations were invited to the meeting. China's mobile payment leader, SmartPay attended the meeting and submitted its proposals.
For the past few years, China's payment system is growing rapidly and non-financial payment & settlement organizations have been springing up. They are playing an important role in facilitating payment efficiency and fulfilling payment requests. However, the market is facing some pressing problems as it grows, to name a few: pricing, unfair competition, multiple standards and weak risk control.
The Central Bank expressed that the establishment of a National Payment and Settlement Association is aimed at strengthening disciplines and internal coordination and resolving issues of pricing, standards execution and risks through consultation in the industry, so as to serve as a supplement to laws and supervisions by Central Bank and other departments.
The Association will have three main functions: 1) to give guidance. 2) to coordinate between market participants and governmental bodies. 3) to provide service.
SmartPay CEO Edward Wu commented that formation of the Association is a milestone step taken in China's payment industry. E-payment in China will shift from "unorganized" to "organized". As a non-financial payment and settlement organization, SmartPay has been focusing on mobile payment for years and it will give the Association full support. During the meeting, SmartPay contributed its ideas: 1) to encourage innovation; 2) to combine traditional payment and electronic payment while maintaining differences; 3) to support strong players and phase out weak ones to establish an influential electronic payment brand; 4) to issue Electronic Payment Risk Control Guidelines.
About SmartPay
SmartPay provides remote payment services in China under the brand name "Jieyin". Chinese consumers and intermediaries utilize SmartPay Jieyin for the payment of mobile services, utilities, travel-related expenses and other expenditures. SmartPay continues to launch additional payment services under the "Jieyin" brand name. Investors in SmartPay include RRE Ventures ( http://www.rre.com ), Evolution Capital, Lunar Group Capital, Accel Partners and others.
