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Overseas bank cards may find going easy

China will not impose tough licensing restrictions on overseas bank card providers seeking to enter the country's $7 trillion card-payment market, a senior central bank official said on Tuesday. Industry sources said in October that they were concerned the Chinese government would limit the number of licences issued to foreign card providers and force them to operate through joint ventures with local partners. However, Fan Yifei, a vice-governor at the People's Bank of China, told a conference that there are no plans to bring in such requirements.