Visa wins preparatory approval in China’s 963.60 trillion yuan card payments market
Key Facts
Visa has secured approval from the People’s Bank of China to begin preparations to establish a domestic bank card clearing institution, a step announced on October 13, 2026 that precedes an operating licence. The company confirmed in its statement that the central bank had approved its "preparatory application" and that the necessary procedures must be completed before domestic clearing operations can begin in China. The approval concerns operations in a market where bank cards processed transactions worth 963.60 trillion yuan during 2025, according to Reuters, citing China’s central bank. The number of those transactions reached 4.6 trillion in the same year, indicating the scale of activity in the market the company is preparing to enter. China’s Ministry of Commerce identified the recipient as Visa Information Technology (Beijing), which Visa established in the country. The ministry said the entity was a foreign-invested company and that the approval covered the preparatory stage for bank card clearing operations.
On the diplomatic dimension of the decision, Qiu Wenxing, China’s deputy chief of mission in Washington, described the approval as a "direct outcome of the presidential summit," according to the South China Morning Post. The Chinese official thus linked the regulatory step to the summit talks, presenting it as one of the outcomes of the presidential meeting. Visa, meanwhile, placed the approval in the context of its existing presence in China’s payments sector, with Chief Executive Ryan McInerney saying the company had participated in it for "more than 40 years." American Express preceded it in processing domestic transactions, becoming the first foreign payments network allowed to process local-currency transactions in China, according to the Hangzhou government. The Mastercard NetsUnion venture also received preliminary approval to prepare to establish a domestic clearing institution in February 2020, according to a Mastercard statement.
The Mastercard NetsUnion venture subsequently advanced from preparatory approval to securing a clearing licence on November 17, 2023, according to the Beijing government’s Foreign Affairs Office. Mastercard announced that the venture began processing payments made within China on May 9, 2024. This precedent shows the sequence of preliminary approval, licence issuance and the start of payment processing, separate stages in the process of entering domestic clearing operations. In the market, Investing reported that Visa shares rose 1.4% in premarket trading on October 13, 2026 following the Chinese approval. The move came on the day the preparatory step was announced, while the start of the company’s domestic operations remained contingent on completing the regulatory process.
Visa has a year to complete the preparatory work, according to the Associated Press, citing Chinese authorities’ requirements. Once that work is completed, the company can submit an application to begin domestic bank card clearing operations, moving to the operating application stage. That application is subject to approval by the People’s Bank of China jointly with the National Financial Regulatory Administration, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. A licence to conduct bank card clearing business is issued after both authorities approve, making the licensing decision the next regulatory milestone after preparations are completed and the application is submitted. On its financial reporting calendar, Visa has scheduled October 27, 2026 to announce its fiscal fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results. The company said the results would be released after the market closes that day.