‘Bill Aimed at Reducing Credit Card Swipe Fees Puts Chinese Company in Crosshairs’
In case you missed this story from the Washington Times, you can catch up by reading it here. The story says:
- That the Credit Card Competition Act “would crack down on a Chinese company that critics fear has infiltrated American payment networks to mine consumers’ sensitive financial information.”
- That the bill would “identify and track payment networks deemed national security risks or operated by foreign entities.” And “it would prevent those networks” from handling payments on U.S. credit cards.
- “That would put UnionPay, a Chinese state-owned financial services company, directly in its crosshairs.”
- “The Chinese company already has deals in place with some of the largest credit card companies to process payments in other countries as well as co-branded cards in the U.S. Critics say that could allow China to collect personal information of U.S. citizens.”
- “Visa and Mastercard brought UnionPay into EMVCo, the consortium that drafts the standards and regulations for processing credit cards. Critics say that allows Beijing to write the rules on how credit cards are used.”
- “Beijing requires businesses operating overseas to share their data with government officials, including sensitive financial data and personally identifiable information.”
- “A group of Republican senators, including Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, sent a letter in October to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressing concerns about UnionPay’s increased footprint in the U.S. financial sector.”
- “Elaine Dezenski, senior director and head of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said fears of UnionPay are part of a broader concern over Chinese companies operating in the U.S. as part of Beijing’s military and intelligence apparatus. China’s national intelligence law requires all Chinese businesses and citizens operating overseas to gather sensitive information from host countries and provide that data to the government.”
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