Breaking of bankcard monopoly brings benefits

THE PEOPLE'S BANK OF CHINA, the country's central bank, cut the commission charges and fees for bank cards on Tuesday. Thepaper.cn commented on Wednesday:

Under the new policy, first announced in March, banks are not allowed to charge more than 0.35 percent of a transaction amount for debit cards, while credit card transactions should not involve a handling fee exceeding 0.45 percent of the transaction amount.

For a long time, different commission charges have been levied by banks on card use. On the one hand, this has increased the costs for companies in the entertainment and catering industries. On the other hand, bankcard transactions involving large amounts of money normally have a cap for commission charges. As a result, some companies have sought to register in other industries that enjoy relatively low fares, in a bid to bypass the charges they should have paid.