Interconnection in the payment field achieves "ice-breaking"
Our reporter Yuan Lu
The barriers between payment institutions are constantly being broken.
Alipay recently announced new developments in interconnection with China UnionPay: Alipay and China UnionPay have achieved mutual recognition of collection code scanning across the country.
Two months ago, Tencent also announced that WeChat Pay and UnionPay QuickPass APP have realized mutual recognition and scanning of offline barcodes.
For a long time, consumers have to download the corresponding payment APP and place multiple payment codes at the cashier.
"With the gradual advancement of interconnection in the payment industry, my country's payment coding rules are expected to gradually be unified." Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry, said that this will not only help further improve the consumer payment experience, save social resources, but also facilitate more concentration and efficiency. Locally conduct supervision to improve the compliance level of the entire payment industry.
Bank APP can scan Alipay payment code
"You can use the ICBC APP to scan the Alipay code for payment!" Many citizens have recently discovered this.
According to Alipay, Alipay and China UnionPay have promoted the completion of 28 banks and institutions including ICBC, China Construction Bank, and Bank of China. Users can scan the Alipay payment code through the APP of various banks, cloud QuickPass and other institutions.
Whether it is a shopping mall, restaurant or convenience store, it is not uncommon for multiple QR codes to be placed at the cashier, and consumers generally face the trouble of downloading multiple payment apps.
For stores, when they want to reconcile and check accounts, multiple QR codes mean that they have to reconcile accounts from each platform and then withdraw cash.
The owner of a convenience store told reporters that some platforms have too high rates to arrive in time, but they still have to display the corresponding payment codes.
Wang Pengbo believes that the closure of the payment field will force merchants to choose one or even more.
When competitors gradually disappear, service prices and user costs will gradually rise.
Barcode payment interconnection has become a rigid demand
The huge temptation of traffic monetization, the in-depth exploration of user portraits, and the potential risks of liquidation compliance... For a variety of interests, various Internet companies and financial institutions are eyeing the "payment business" cake and are trying to expand their market share.
"Platform companies naturally have the attribute of'winner takes all'." People's Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said earlier that this may trigger market monopoly and reduce innovation efficiency.
“Some domestic platform companies seize the market through cross-subsidies and other methods, and after gaining market dominance, they implement exclusive policies, such as repelling competitors from entering the platform and providing services. The QR code payment business only supports relevant APP scan codes within the group.” The central bank Vice President Fan Yifei also stated that some payment institutions use unfair competition methods such as low-price dumping and cross-subsidy to seize market share, monopolize users, traffic and data, and restrict competition from other institutions. Market order suppresses industrial innovation, which in turn weakens my country's overall leading edge in electronic payment".
Today, barriers between payment institutions are gradually broken.
On September 30, Tencent announced that WeChat Pay and UnionPay Cloud QuickPass app have realized mutual recognition and mutual scanning of offline barcodes. Users can scan the WeChat payment code through the Cloud QuickPass app to complete payment in provincial capitals.
WeChat Mini Programs also gradually support UnionPay Cloud QuickPass.
Exclusive discriminatory agreements should be strictly prohibited
"It is a leap forward to expand from online interconnection to offline scenarios, but related aggregate payment acquirers may face a more cruel market environment." Wang Pengbo analyzed that payment institutions want to expand the user pool and need to be further improved Own business ecology.
However, the reporter noticed that some consumers complained that the bank APP scanning Alipay was "not working".
In response to this, Alipay responded that it currently only supports merchants that have opened a merchant service payment code on the Alipay side, and does not currently support personal payment codes.
At the same time, Alipay still cannot scan the collection codes of other banking institutions to realize payment.
There is still a long way to go for full interconnection in the payment field.
Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of the Zhongguancun Internet Finance Research Institute, said that true interconnection is the open payment interface of all payment institutions and payment tools, especially large platforms, and it is truly open to all payment institutions and payment tools. Exclusive and discriminatory payment agreements are strictly prohibited.
"In addition to technology, the distribution of benefits is the key to the interconnection of the payment industry." Analysys senior analyst Su Xiaorui said that the Internet giants have built their own moat after years of development. For all payment institutions, all payment institutions require Rethink how to gain a foothold in the market with advanced technology and high-quality services in an environment of full market competition.