BEIJING, China—China’s two biggest mobile payment providers have been named among 27 companies and individuals found guilty of breaking the rules on foreign exchange transactions.
Alipay, the payment arm of Alibaba Group, and Tenpay were each fined 600,000 yuan (US$88,000) by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the regulator said in a statement, according to the South China Morning Post.
Alipay was found guilty of “conducting cross-border payment services out of its approved scope” and “misreporting international payments” between January 2014 and May 2016, SAFE said.
Tenpay, meanwhile, was charged with “providing cross-border payment services for non-Chinese residents without going through the due registration process” between January 2015 and June 2017.
The public pronouncement of the companies’ guilt was the first of its kind by the regulatory body, and comes as the pair are seeking to expand into overseas markets, the South China Morning Post noted.