Rules on e-payment in single deal tightened By Zhu Shenshen (Shanghai Daily) Updated: 2005-11-01 09:20 Individual users are not allowed to buy products
valued at more than 1,000 yuan (US$123.45) through electronic payment in a
single deal to hedge against the risk of online fraud, the People's Bank of
China said on its Website.
The central bank guideline won't greatly affect the Chinese e-commerce
industry as users still have multiple choices to finish their online
transactions, said banks and online firms including eBay China and Alibaba.com.
Another central bank limit on electronic payment, which includes via Internet
and mobile phones, imposes a maximum of 5,000 yuan for a single day transaction
for individual users and 50,000 yuan for enterprise users.
"Electronic payment has become more and more common with the growing
popularity of the Internet and the rapid growth of the e-commerce industry," the
central bank said on its Website. "It also has brought security problems,
including cyber fraud and money laundering."
The value of China's online payments reached 7.5 billion yuan last year and
it is expected to peak at 60.5 billion yuan in 2007, said iResearch Inc, a
Shanghai-based Internet consulting firm.
Security has remained the top concern in the sector. For example, hackers can
easily access personal databases through a computer virus and worm spread on the
Internet. Online auction Website users often receive suspicious e-mails to
"remind" them to type user names and passwords again to update their accounts.
"The guideline is a temporary method but not a good way," said Lu Weigang, an
independent Internet analyst.
Lu believed the improvement in online security awareness, and not the limit
of payment amount, is the "fundamental" way to solve the problem.
Meanwhile, companies involved said their business won't be influenced by the
guideline.
Taobao.com said it had already limited online payment value to 3,000 yuan,
for security reason.
|