China’s central bank has tightened rules on mobile payments made by scanning a barcode, imposing restrictions that could slow the explosive growth for Alibaba’s financial services affiliate and that of its main rival, Tencent.
The regulations set daily limits on the amount consumers can spend each day using barcode-based payments. They also forbid “burning money” via subsidies to merchants, which are designed to capture market share from competitors.
China leads the world in mobile payments, most of which are executed by scanning a QR code. While some scans use a specialised point-of-sale (POS) terminal, others occur between mobile phones or when the consumer scans a decal posted near the checkout area.