Chongqing Creates Payment Facilitation Demonstration Area

Since the release of the Opinion of the General Office of the State Council on Further Optimizing Payment Services to Enhance Payment Convenience on March 7, Chongqing has been optimising payment services. The "Implementation Plan for Building a Payment Facilitation Demonstration Area" formulated by the Chongqing Branch of the People's Bank of China, the Foreign Affairs Office of Chongqing Municipal Government and the People's Government of Yuzhong District was issued. Supporting Yuzhong District in building the core area of the Mid-west-China International Communication Centre, the main carrying area of the Western Financial Center and the core area of the International Consumption Center City by creating a demonstration area for payment facilitation.

The construction of the demonstration area mainly focuses on solving the difficulties and blockages in payment for international residents in Chongqing, covering a wide range of scenarios such as "food, housing, transportation, tourism, shopping, entertainment and medical care". According to the programme, in accordance with the general idea of "large-value card swiping, small-value code scanning, and cash peddling", it will clarify the improvement measures for overseas bank card acceptance, mobile payment, foreign currency exchange, use of banknotes, and account services, and will unify the hardware and software standards and processes of each payment scenario in Yuzhong District, as well as unify the acceptance logos of ATMs and POS machines. Clarify the guiding signs for payment service facilities in the district, promote the use of personal local and foreign currency exchange signs, and optimize and enhance the user experience of payment services for the elderly and foreign residents in Yuzhong District.

    Yuzhong District will build 50 key outlets for bank accounts and foreign exchange services for foreign nationals coming to China, which will be equipped with foreign language consulting service staff or translators, provide bilingual account opening application forms or account opening service guides, optimize the business environment for acceptance in English and vigorously expand the number of digital RMB-accepting merchants, with a focus on promoting the significant increase in the acceptance of digital RMB for food and beverage and tourism service merchants. By the end of June 2024, the whole area of Yuzhong District will be built into a payment facilitation demonstration area to meet the different types of payment needs of international travellers coming to China for short-term travel and medium- and long-term study, work and residence, and to realize barrier-free payment in the whole area.