US weighs wider China market access for Mastercard and Citi, CNBC reports
The talks follow Visa's approval last week to prepare a wholly owned card-clearing business in China.
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The United States is in talks with China to expand market access for Mastercard and Citi, CNBC reported.
The discussions follow a string of moves this month on US financial firms' footing in China. On October 13, the People's Bank of China gave Visa preliminary approval to prepare a domestic bankcard clearing institution, according to The Asian Banker. Mastercard and American Express already clear payments domestically in China through joint ventures with local partners; Visa's planned entity would be wholly owned, The Asian Banker reported.
Mastercard's existing joint venture took nearly four years to move from a preparatory approval in February 2020 to an operating license in November 2023, CNBC reported. China has said it will approve applications from all foreign financial institutions after a Xi-Trump summit in September, and Trump has said he personally raised Visa's access request during a trip to Beijing in May, according to CNBC. Xi and Trump are expected to meet for a third time this year, at the APEC Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen next month, CNBC reported, citing George Chen of The Asia Group.
China is the world's largest payments market, one that has historically been difficult for US card networks to enter, American Banker reported. Mastercard's earlier push into the country was described as access to a $27 trillion payments market, according to TechCrunch. Citi chief executive Jane Fraser has said the bank has held discussions with several private-label partners about shifting toward co-branded cards, The Asian Banker reported.
Talks to widen Mastercard and Citi's access would mark a concrete opening in financial services, distinct from the goods-trade disputes, from soybean purchases to EV tariffs, that have dominated recent US-China and EU-China headlines. It comes as Washington describes the relationship as stable, while Beijing has made incremental market-opening gestures elsewhere, including expanded crude import quotas for non-state firms. If the talks advance, they would give US card networks and banks a rare growth lever inside China's domestic market, rather than just export volume, in a year otherwise defined by tech restrictions and tariff standoffs.