China's central bank lets Visa start preparing a domestic card clearing business

Visa said on 13 October 2026 that the People's Bank of China has approved its Application to Prepare, the first formal stage in setting up a domestic bankcard clearing institution in the country. The approval lets Visa begin building the entity, systems and controls the regulator requires. It does not yet allow Visa to clear domestic transactions; that needs a further licence once preparations are complete, and Visa gave no timeline. Visa has been active in China for more than 40 years, but mainly on cross-border payments, such as Visa-branded cards used abroad by Chinese travellers or foreign cards used inside China. Domestic yuan card payments have been cleared by UnionPay. Visa first applied for direct access in 2017, and the 2020 US-China trade agreement committed Beijing to open bankcard clearing to US networks. American Express was the first foreign network through this process, in 2020, via a joint venture with a local partner. The practical shift for merchants will be slow. Mobile wallets such as Alipay and WeChat Pay dominate everyday spending in China, which limits how much card volume any new clearing network can win. If Visa does reach full operation, however, Chinese issuers could put domestic Visa-cleared cards in consumers' hands, which could change how card payments by Chinese shoppers are routed and priced. For online merchants selling to Chinese customers today, nothing changes immediately. The step is worth tracking because it signals continued, if gradual, opening of China's card market to foreign networks.