Multiple branches of the People's Bank of China have recently announced administrative penalty decisions against five payment institutions. These penalties involve Lakala Payment Co.,Ltd. Jiangsu Branch, Tianjin City Card Payment, Nanjing Citizen Card Payment, Shenzhen Midea Payment Technology Co., Ltd., and Zhifu Electronic Payment Co., Ltd., with violations covering card acquiring, prepaid cards, and cross-border payment services.
According to penalty notices published by the People's Bank of China Jiangsu Branch, Lakala Payment Co.,Ltd. Jiangsu Branch was fined for violating card acquiring business management regulations, resulting in confiscation of illegal gains of 61,423.7 yuan and an additional penalty of 250,000 yuan. Card acquiring business is one of the core services for payment institutions, and its compliance directly relates to the fund security of merchants and consumers. As a well-known domestic payment institution, this penalty exposes weaknesses in Lakala Payment Co.,Ltd.'s branch management.
Tianjin City Card Payment Co., Ltd. was fined 30,000 yuan by the People's Bank of China Tianjin Branch for violating prepaid card business management regulations. Similarly, Nanjing Citizen Card Payment Co., Ltd. was given a warning, public criticism, and fined 85,000 yuan by the People's Bank of China Jiangsu Branch for violating prepaid card business management regulations. Prepaid card business has always been a key focus of payment regulation, as violations may bring fund security risks and consumer protection issues.
The People's Bank of China Shenzhen Branch announced that Shenzhen Midea Payment Technology Co., Ltd. was given a warning and fined 2.81 million yuan for violating account management regulations and clearing management regulations. This penalty also involved relevant responsible persons. Yi, the former deputy general manager of the company, was fined 625,000 yuan for being responsible for violations of account management regulations.
Zhifu Electronic Payment Co., Ltd. was penalized by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange Shenzhen Branch for violating foreign exchange registration management regulations. According to relevant provisions of the "Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Simplifying and Improving Foreign Exchange Management Policies for Direct Investment," Zhifu Electronic Payment was fined and had illegal gains confiscated totaling 44,000 yuan.
This is not the first time Zhifu Electronic Payment has been subject to regulatory penalties. According to public information, in May 2018, the company was fined and had illegal gains confiscated totaling 25.614 million yuan by the People's Bank of China Shenzhen Central Sub-branch for providing payment services to multiple illegal overseas gold and foreign exchange trading platforms.
From this batch of penalties, it can be seen that the strong regulatory stance in the payment industry continues. Since 2025, regulatory departments have imposed penalties on payment institutions covering multiple areas including anti-money laundering, merchant management, card acquiring business, prepaid card business, and foreign exchange business. Under the normalized strict regulatory environment for the payment industry, payment institutions urgently need to strengthen compliance management and address internal control shortcomings.
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