Leading Chinese online payment provider Alipay may have hit a roadblock in its efforts to expand internationally after the Chinese central bank imposed a new set of rules on such services.
Under the new rules promulgated by the People's Central Bank, people using online and other non-bank payment methods are required to register their accounts using their real names, as well as having these linked to a mainland bank account.
Users need to comply before July 1, else they will not be allowed to keep their funds on their online accounts, The Standard reported.
According to Alipay, the new rules are likely to affect its overseas customers and those who are based in Hong Kong, as they will now be required to provide more information than they might be comfortable sharing, as well as being essentially locked out of using the service unless they are able to travel to China and set up a bank account there.
As the new rules will also likely affect Alibaba's online shopping websites like Taobao and Tmall.com, the parent company has allowed overseas customers to use other payment methods when using these sites, such as credit cards, PPS, Octopus Cards and Jetco, Bloomberg reported.
The central bank had announced the new rules in December and said that these are intended to prevent large sums of money that are beyond the coverage of standard bank deposit insurance from being moved through online payment channels.
Alipay has an estimated 450 million users around the globe. In November, the service was opened to Taiwanese users, where it was accepted as a mode of payment by over 3,000 stores.
The company did not reveal how many of its users are going to be affected by the new regulation.