Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of Zhaolian Finance, said that the Measures reflect the unification of "strict supervision" and "strong service" of the payment service market by the regulatory authorities, which is conducive to promoting the healthy and steady development of payment institutions and enhancing the vitality and competitiveness of the payment service market.
China's non-bank payment industry has developed rapidly, and payment methods and products have become an important supplement to the payment system. The Measures clarify that customer reserve refers to the monetary funds actually received by non-bank payment institutions for handling the payment business entrusted by customers.
In the view of Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of Zhaolian Finance, the regulatory authorities have always attached great importance to the guidance and supervision of the non-bank payment industry.
He believes that compared with general funds, reserve funds have three characteristics: first, the ownership of reserve funds belongs to customers, not the self-owned property of payment institutions, but after the funds are transferred to payment institutions, consumers cannot manage them; Second, the payment institution deposits the reserve funds in its own name in commercial banks, which has the de facto right to control and use, and the reserve funds are at risk of being occupied or misappropriated; Third, reserve funds are different from customers' own bank deposits and are not protected by the Deposit Insurance Regulations, so consumers' rights and interests are easily infringed. Just like * * * enjoys the bicycle deposit, it is difficult to return it in time after being misappropriated by relevant enterprises.
Zhou, an analyst in the financial market department of China Everbright Bank, said that in the medium and long term, speeding up the filling of shortcomings in relevant systems will help standardize the development of non-bank payment industry, pay attention to technology and service innovation, guard against potential risks of payment institutions and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of customers.
The person in charge of the relevant departments of the central bank said that compared with the original reserve payment method, the Measures mainly clarified the following five aspects:
First, it is stipulated that the reserve fund shall be deposited in full in the People's Bank of China or a qualified commercial bank.
Second, it is stipulated that the transfer of customers' reserve funds should be handled through a clearing institution that meets the requirements.
Third, the Measures specify in detail the scope and methods of the withdrawal and deposit of reserve funds and the transfer of self-owned funds, and clarify that the transfer of reserve funds arising from compliance cooperation among payment institutions should be handled through a clearing institution that meets the requirements.
Fourth, the Measures clarify the responsibilities of the People's Bank of China, its branches, clearing institutions and reserve banks for the supervision and management of customers' reserve funds.
Fifth, the Measures have increased penalties for violations of reserve funds.
Regarding the management requirements of reserve funds, Zhou, an analyst in the financial market department of China Everbright Bank, said that the regulations emphasize that this will help reduce the credit risk of non-bank payment institutions, and at the same time help prevent customers' reserve funds from being illegally misappropriated by non-bank institutions such as third-party payment, effectively protecting customers' legitimate rights and interests.
"The practice of centralized management of full reserve funds has been tried and explored in China, and this provision has basically no impact on the normal operation of payment institutions at present." Zhou said to him.
Provisions on optimizing the management of three types of specific business accounts, such as fund sales.
What are the provisions on cross-border RMB payment, fund sales payment and cross-border foreign exchange payment accounts in the Measures for the Deposit and Management of Customer Reserves of Non-bank Payment Institutions? The person in charge of the relevant departments of the central bank said that the Measures fully considered the demands of market institutions and optimized the management regulations for three types of specific business accounts.
In addition, the method also clarifies that the transfer of funds between the above-mentioned special deposit account for funds to be settled by the payment institution and the settlement account of domestic merchants and customers' banks shall be handled by the clearing institution through the centralized deposit account for reserve funds.
At the same time, in order to meet the regulatory needs, the Measures established a supervision and management system for reserve funds composed of the People's Bank of China and its branches, clearing institutions and reserve banks. The People's Bank of China and its branches shall conduct comprehensive supervision and management on the business activities of customers' reserve funds, and conduct inspection. The settlement institution shall supervise the deposit, use and transfer of the customer reserve funds in the centralized depository account, and monitor the related risks. Reserve bank shall supervise the deposit, use and transfer of reserve funds in the special deposit account for reserve funds of prepaid cards, and monitor related risks.
The above-mentioned person in charge said that since the payment institution can choose a number of clearing institutions to cooperate at the same time, the Measures stipulate that one clearing institution should be selected as the main regulatory institution to supervise the deposit, use and transfer of all its reserve funds as a whole. Other cooperative clearing institutions and reserve gold and silver banks shall cooperate with the main regulator of reserve funds to supervise the reserve funds.
In addition, the person in charge stressed that with the development of payment business, especially with the rise of emerging payment products such as bar code payment, the cooperation between payment institutions has gradually increased, leading to the mutual transfer of reserve funds between payment institutions. In order to meet the needs of market development, the People's Bank of China has standardized the transfer of reserve funds arising from compliance cooperation among payment institutions. The Measures stipulate that the cooperation between payment institutions shall comply with the relevant provisions of the People's Bank of China, the transfer of customer reserve funds between payment institutions based on real transactions shall be handled through clearing institutions, and payment institutions shall provide transaction flow, payee information and other materials indicating the actual occurrence of transactions. At the same time, in order to improve the transparency of transactions and prevent capital risks, it is clearly stipulated that payment institutions shall not directly open payment business interfaces with each other, and shall not open payment accounts with each other, so as not to transfer customer reserves.
(Original title "Heavy! Alipay and WeChat are further standardized! Central Bank: The reserves of non-bank payment institutions are fully deposited in the central bank or compliant commercial banks. Editor Ni Bing)