Reports: China Will Legalize Payments via QR Codes
Chinese consumers could soon make legal payments in that country via their smartphones and QR codes, media reports indicate.
Shoppers with such online services as Alipay and Tenpay already use the codes, but they exist “in a regulatory gray zone, banned by the government, yet still continue operating,” according Ecns.cn.
Rules governing the codes could emerge by the end of the month, the online news source adds. That would follow the March 2014 suspension on QR code payments by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank. The bank, which said security concerns led to that move, now reportedly has given permission to the Payment & Clearing Association of China to work with its members on the QR payment regulations.
The looming QR changes in China come amid significant growth in mobile transaction in the country: According to iResearch, in the first quarter of 2016, mobile transactions hit approximately $934 billion, up 33 percent from the first quarter of 2015.
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