Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 2163 UnionPay
In March 2003, Ma Yun transferred a group of backbones to participate in a secret project Taobao.

However, there is a problem that makes Jack Ma a headache, and that is the payment problem.

According to a report in Southern Metropolis Weekly in 2011, PayPal may have provided Jack Ma with ideas.Because of the support of card organizations such as VISA and MasterCard, as long as the credit card or bank card of the two card organizations can be paid through PayPal, there is no need for the user to sign an additional contract with the bank.

Therefore, in 2004, Ma Yun found China UnionPay.According to the early decision-makers of China UnionPay disclosed to "Financial Stories", the first person from Ali should contact CHINAPAY (UnionPay Electronic Payment Co., Ltd.), a company that is 51% owned by UnionPay.

The predecessor of this company was a start-up company in the e-commerce industry. Because of the Internet bubble that swept the world around 2000, life was difficult, and it was later acquired by China UnionPay.Among the bank contacts at that time, the only one related to Internet payment was this company.

Through the intermediary introduction of the person in charge of CHINAPAY, Jack Ma was able to meet with the UnionPay executives at that time.At the same time, the person in charge of CHINAPAY was also present.

A person familiar with the matter told "Financial Stories" that the executives of UnionPay who participated in the meeting asked the person in charge of CHINAPAY on the spot whether they could cooperate with Alipay.

However, in fact, China UnionPay, which has just been established for two years, does not have such a sound online network as VISA and MasterCard. "Jack Ma's thoughts at the time, such as connecting to UnionPay and connecting to all banks, is impossible, and the conditions are not met." A person familiar with the matter revealed to "Financial Stories", "UnionPay itself has not opened up with banks on the Internet yet. ".

One of the reasons why China UnionPay was able to quickly build and connect to the general network of banks offline was the concerted efforts of multiple ministries and commissions at that time. Banks, large and small, would actively or passively support China UnionPay.And online, there is no policy support.

"Online, the bank doesn't support you, and you can't play at all."The above-mentioned insider told "Financial Stories".

This meeting has not been officially made public. The memories of different participants are like arrows fired in different directions at the same time and space. In the following long years, the deviation will become larger and larger.

Ten years later, the facts are like fragments scattered everywhere, and it is difficult to piece together a complete and objective truth.

About a month or two after that meeting, the then UnionPay decision-maker asked the person in charge of CHINAPAY about the cooperation, and the latter replied: "Ma Yun should do it himself."

In December 2004, Zhejiang Alipay Network Technology Co., Ltd. was established in Hangzhou, and Jack Ma began difficult negotiations with banks.

And this meeting also inspired China UnionPay, "It turns out that Internet payment is so promising, and this piece cannot be lost."At that time, CHINAPAY also dreamed of building China's PayPal.

However, Alipay's development is far faster than CHINAPAY.The main reason is that Alipay has a business scenario - the fast-growing Taobao.com.

Just when Alipay was leading the way on the Internet, UnionPay Commerce was also growing rapidly offline.

What the general public doesn't understand is that the Yinlian Company, which has the word "UnionPay" in its name, is an extremely complicated system.

The head office is China UnionPay; in addition, there is UnionPay Commerce Co., Ltd. (referred to as UnionPay Commerce), which is a subsidiary of China UnionPay. It was established in 2002 and is a third-party payment company. The holding company, whose payment business scope includes Internet payment and telephone payment, etc.

The original intention of UnionPay Merchant was to solve the problem of too few merchants accepting bank cards.Before UnionPay Commerce was established, there were only 15 merchants that supported bank card consumption, and there were more than 20 POS machines. On average, only 100 yuan of every 2 yuan of retail sales of social consumer goods was paid by card.

As of 2013, there are more than 400 million POS machines on the checkout counters of more than 1000 million merchants across the country.For every 100 yuan in retail sales of social consumer goods, 50 yuan has already been paid by credit card, which has almost caught up with the level of developed countries.

Specific to offline acquiring, there are a total of three stakeholders in the industry chain: bank card issuers, acquiring agencies, and China UnionPay, which provides transfer and clearing services.Every time a bank card is swiped, merchants in different industries need to pay different proportions of handling fees, and the above-mentioned three stakeholders share the handling fees in a ratio of 7:2:1.

In 1996, China UnionPay had not yet been established, so if Duan Yun wanted to ask all domestic banks to guarantee his online payment, he needed to negotiate one by one, and the first to bear the brunt was the People's Bank of China. The largest banks also have the most funds and depositors.

That night, Wu Zhenglong promised that Duan Yun would match him with the governor of the central bank, but whether the negotiation can be concluded in the end depends on Duan Yun's own ability.

However, in Duan Yun's view, this negotiation may be very difficult, and there may be no results. The reason is simple, because online payment is still a brand new financial model in China, and there are many technical problems in it. Due to immaturity and commercial risks, as the person in charge of a central enterprise, it is more important to be stable and conservative than to take risks and innovate. After all, the central bank is not a private bank and has no pressure to survive, so there is no need to lie in all kinds of muddy waters.

Originally, Duan Yun thought he would have to wait several days for news, but to his surprise, Wu Zhenglong called him after only one day, telling Duan Yun that at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, he would directly Go to the governor's office at the headquarters of the People's Bank of China, where he will be met by Dai Xianglong, then governor of the central bank.

Duan Yun was somewhat surprised that Dai Xianglong agreed to meet with him, because as a leader of this level, it is really unusual to be able to meet private entrepreneurs like him. Generally speaking, he only needs to arrange for his subordinates to meet with Duan Yun That's it, no need to show up in person at all.

Early the next morning, Duan Yun arrived at the headquarters of the People's Bank of China in BJXC District by car. After revealing his identity, he was immediately led into the headquarters building by the security guards at the door. On the sixth floor of the building, Duan Yun entered Governor's office.

"Hello, President Dai." Duan Yun immediately greeted the old man who was sitting at the desk in front of him and writing documents.

"Xiao Duan, sit down." Dai Xianglong looked up at Duan Yun, smiled and motioned him to sit down, then asked the staff to pour him a glass of water, and then got busy with the work at hand.

After more than ten minutes, when Dai Xianglong finished processing the documents at hand, he looked up at Duan Yun again.

(End of this chapter)