NEW YORK—American Express has become the first U.S. credit card company to get the green light to start building its own payments network in China.
The company said that the Chinese central bank has given it preliminary approval to handle payments in yuan, according to a CNN report.
AmEx can now start setting up the payments network through a joint venture with LianLian Group, its Chinese partner.
“In every other market around the world, AmEx processes transactions through its own network, whose hub is in Phoenix. But in China, they have been handled by state-controlled payments giant China UnionPay. Once AmEx has built its own network in China, it will be able to use it to process payments on AmEx branded cards and collect fees on far more transactions,” CNN stated.