On June 30, 2009, China Financial Publishing House and China UnionPay jointly sponsored a symposium titled "China Financial Forum: Promote the Scientific Development of the Bankcard Industry" in Beijing. PBC Deputy Governor Su Ning attended the symposium and delivered a keynote speech. Officials and experts from the PBC, the Ministry of Commerce, commercial banks and bankcard device enterprises also participated in the symposium.
In his keynote speech, Deputy Governor Su remarked that, China s bankcard industry, through 20 years development and the particularly rapid growth in recent years, has become a significant and integral part of the financial sector, contributing much to economic growth and people s livelihood. With risk indices of the bankcard industry in the U.
S. and the other developed countries showing worrying signs under the impact of the financial crisis, China s bankcard industry has been developing in a sound, stable and rapid manner. Some new challenges, however, are constraining its further development. The most prominent one is bankcard-linked crimes.
To solve this problem, all parties concerned shall earnestly implement the Notice of the People s Bank of China, China Banking Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Public Security and State Administration of Industry and Commerce on Strengthening Bankcard Security Management, Preventing and Combating Bankcard-related Crimes and make concerted efforts to clamp down on bankcard-related crimes in the following aspects: 1.
Establish an accountability system with quantitative requirements on maximum losses to hold bankcard issuers and acquirers accountable. 2. Regulate the management of bankcard issuance by using the real name account system and the customer identity verification system. 3. Keep the information of bankcard holders secure and inviolated.
4. Monitor bankcard-related transactions and improve bankcard usage management to effectively prevent relative risks. 5. Strengthen risk management of the bankcard acceptance market and establish an information sharing system on bankcard-related risks. 6. Reinforce the examination and supervision of the bankcard market to plug possible loopholes in the system.
Officials and scholars analyzed the bankcard policy environment, industry-wide supervision, promoting business bankcards and combating bankcard-related crimes including frauds. Representatives from China UnionPay, commercial banks and bankcard device enterprises shared their experiences on the operation and management of bankcard transactions, product innovation and risk prevention.
The representatives observed that, in the past year, China s economic and financial development has faced severe situations against the backdrop of the international financial crisis. On the one hand, the new economic and financial environment has posed major challenges to the development of the bankcard industry; on the other hand, the package of economic policies aiming to stimulate domestic demand and accelerate the development of the service sector has presented new development opportunities.
At present, China UnionPay has acted collectively with commercial banks and has established, based on independent IPR, a system of domestic bankcard risk management standards and supporting administrative rules. A bankcard-related risk management structure with "five systems and one center" (i.e. bankcard risk information sharing system, bankcard risk reporting and management system, bankcard-related fraud detection system, merchant risk monitoring and control system, risk management public service platform system and the anti bankcard-related fraud center) has been put in place.
Commercial banks, public security organs and China UnionPay have gradually established three joint action mechanisms, i.e. for risk information sharing and risk prevention, prompt response to bankcard-related fraud and conducting education programs to promote safe usage of bankcards. Moreover, competent authorities are making judicial interpretations on bankcard-related crimes, especially credit card cashing out which has already been quite common.
Representatives at the symposium pointed out that, with China s bankcard industry facing both challenges and opportunities, all parties concerned should strengthen cooperation and enhance risk-prevention and management capabilities so as to make the bankcard industry an important driving force in promoting consumption, stimulating domestic demand and ensuring stable economic development.
