Visa Inc. has been blocked from doing any new business in China for almost a year over a dispute with China UnionPay, the country's only card network, according to a published report.
Visa told UnionPay in 2009 to stop processing international transactions for cobranded cards through UnionPay's own payment system rather than Visa's, but the Chinese company has refused to comply, a story in the Sept. 16 Financial Times said.
Since the demand was made, UnionPay wouldn't consider any new business lines with Visa, according to people in China's bank card industry.
"We have been in China for more than a decade and we have a long history of working with China UnionPay. While we continue to grow our cross-border payments business, like all payment companies we look forward to eventually participating in the domestic payments market," a Visa representative said.
UnionPay declined to comment.
Visa, of San Francisco, is at the center of a case filed last week by the U.S. government against China at the World Trade Organization. Washington says China UnionPay's insistence on using only its own payment processing system amounts to market-access restrictions that violate trade rules.
