Days ago, the payment and settlement work conference of the People s Bank of China (PBC) was convened in Kunming, which reviewed the work progress in 2008 and made arrangements for the year 2009. Deputy Governor Su Ning addressed the conference.
Deputy Governor Su Ning fully acknowledged the progress in PBC s payment work streams in 2008, including the building of a payment green pass to support the disaster relief and post-disaster reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of the snow and sleet disaster and the devastating Wenchuan earthquake; successful delivery of the Olympics-related payment work; completion of China s Domestic Foreign Currency Payment System; the launch of the electronic commercial drafts payment system, the improvement of the emergency back-up system; the expansion of the coverage of the special bankcards for migrant workers nationwide; verification of the authenticity of corporate bank accounts; the establishment of a regular information disclosure mechanism to make the developments of the payment system readily available for the general public; and the establishment of a regular meeting mechanism between the PBC and commercial banks to discuss and coordinate policies concerning payment services.
Su Ning pointed out that the payment system is one of the most essential financial infrastructures, and the improvement of the payment system is extremely important for the socio-economic development. At present, efforts should be concentrated on the following aspects in order to improve the payment system.
First, bank account management should be strengthened in order to facilitate cracking down on corruption and to promote the credit information reference system. Second, the payment and clearing network should be improved, including the electronic commercial drafts system, the central bank centralized booking system and the RMB cross-border payment mechanism.
Third, the application of various payment systems and non-cash payment instruments should be promoted, including the Bulk Electronic Payment System, the check image exchange system, the electronic commercial drafts system, the special bankcards for migrant workers and etcs. Fourth, the rural payment environment should be enhanced.
Efforts should be made to promote the use of bankcards, mobile payment, telephone payment and other modes of payment in the rural areas. Fifth, supervision and management of the payment system should be reinforced in accordance with the law. Sixth, research work should be done to formulate a national payment system development plan.
In recent years, great progress has been made in the development of the payment system. The China National Advanced Payment System has taken shape, playing an increasingly important role in the socio-economic development. In 2008, 18.3 billion transactions were processed through non-cash payment instruments, with a value of 633 trillion yuan.
Among this total, the value of bankcard-based payment transactions accounted for over 23 percent of the retail sales, and the ratio approached or reached 50 percent in large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. As of end-2008, the per capita ownership of bankcards is 1.36, and on average every Chinese has opened 1.
8 bank settlement accounts. In 2008, all the payment systems combined processed 1,074 trillion yuan worth transactions, about 34.6 times of the GDP. The PBC s payment and clearing system handled nearly 640 trillion yuan payment transactions, accounting for 60 percent of the total. The volume of delivery versus payment (DVP) business on the inter-bank bond market, the inter-bank borrowing market and of open market operations handled by the large-value payment system reached 90.
4 trillion, 3.33 trillion and 7.5 trillion yuan respectively.
