Visa gets Chinese approval to prepare a bank card clearing business, joining Mastercard and American Express
China's central bank has allowed Visa to start preparing a domestic bank card clearing institution in China. Visa has one year to finish preparations before it can apply to start operations.
Preparation approval granted
Visa said on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, that it had received approval from the People's Bank of China to begin preparing a domestic bank card clearing business in China. The approval covers Visa Information Technology (Beijing) Co Ltd, the locally incorporated entity through which Visa will prepare its operations. The move could allow Visa to compete for a share of China's large payments market, which is dominated by the state-owned UnionPay. Visa's chief executive, Ryan McInerney, welcomed the decision in a statement that described the approval as a significant step forward in Visa's long-standing commitment to China.
We greatly appreciate the important role of the leaders of the United States and China in pursuing a constructive and strategically stable relationship between the world's largest economies.
What comes next
China's Xinhua news agency said Visa must complete its preparatory work within one year. After that, it can apply to commence its domestic bank card clearing operations. A licence to operate must be approved jointly by the People's Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration, so the approval announced on Tuesday does not yet let Visa provide these services. If Visa obtains the licence, it could process yuan payments on cards issued by Chinese banks for transactions inside China, a business separate from the foreign-card services it already offers in the country. The central bank's website shows that the preparation permit was issued to Visa Information Technology (Beijing).
Rivals and a long wait
Mastercard and American Express already run domestic clearing in China through joint ventures. American Express obtained its licence in 2020, while Mastercard received final approval in November 2023 and began operations in May 2024 through a venture with NetsUnion. Visa confirmed in November 2018 that it had applied to set up a card clearing entity in China, but BFMTV dates Visa's application to 2020 and describes a six-year wait. Local payment apps WeChat, owned by Tencent, and Alipay, owned by Ant Group, dominate the wider payments market. The People's Bank of China data cited by Reuters puts 2025 bank card transactions at 963.6 trillion yuan, or 143.92 trillion dollars.
- Visa confirms it has applied to set up a card clearing entity in China
- American Express obtains its card clearing licence
- Mastercard receives final approval to operate card clearing in China
- Mastercard begins operations through a joint venture with NetsUnion
- Visa receives approval to prepare a domestic bank card clearing business
Diplomatic backdrop
The approval follows Xi Jinping's meetings with Donald Trump during Xi's state visit to Washington in September 2026, and the two leaders also met in Beijing in May. Trump said he raised the issue of Visa's access during his May visit. Visa's chief executive and Mastercard's chief executive, Michael Miebach, were both on the guest list at the White House dinner during Xi's visit. George Chen, partner and chair of digital practice at The Asia Group, told AP that the approval could be seen as a goodwill gesture from China. He said in written comments:
The move suggests that Beijing is keen to demonstrate tangible progress for American businesses before Trump's next visit to China.
Xi and Trump are expected to meet again in Shenzhen in November, on the sidelines of the APEC summit. That meeting would be their third in-person meeting in 2026.
