download (3).jpg (Photo : Reuters)
China's third-largest moneylender, the Agricultural Bank of China, has recently introduced virtual credit cards as a new way to protect its customers from scams.
China is fast becoming the world's largest payment market due to the consumption of its massive population. The competitive commerce has led China's banks to improve the experience of customers by innovating products.
Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent have pioneered in innovating mobile payment with their third-party payment platforms Alipay and WeChat, respectively. But the firms' launch of their virtual credit cards has been blocked by the central bank because they failed to present enough risk-control plans.
Most consumers by online commerce leaders are comprised of depositors in China's banks. These consumers shop, invest, plan holidays and make payments on their payment platforms; they also make transactions for every activity using their credit cards from Chinese banks.
The Agricultural Bank's new mode of payment, the virtual credit card, has the same features as a physical card. It holds a Card Verification Value number (CCV), an expiry date and a card number. The only difference is that the data is sent to the user by text message.
The credit limit of the virtual card is the same as the user's physical card. Chinese banks give low credit limits, about just a few thousand yuan, to protect the holder from large unauthorized payments.
Every three months, the card's CVV number is automatically changed to prevent potential data leakage. In the event that the card is compromised, users can call the banks, which will void the card and issue a new virtual card on the spot.
