Business

Everywhere They Want to be, and Now China, Too

Published

11 years ago

April 23, 2015

This April 22, 2005 file photo shows logos for MasterCard and Visa credit cards at the entrance of a New York coffee shop. Fair Isaac, the company behind the widely-used FICO credit score, on Thursday, April 2, 2015 announced a pilot program to help millions of Americans get easier access to credit, based on their record of paying utility bills, instead of their history of loan repayments. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

This April 22, 2005 file photo shows logos for MasterCard and Visa credit cards at the entrance of a New York coffee shop. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

KEN SWEET, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The Chinese are spending trillions of dollars on their credit and debit cards, and U.S. companies are finally getting a slice of that giant pie.

China announced Wednesday that foreign companies like Visa, MasterCard and American Express can bring their payment processing networks into that country, starting June 1.

The news sent shares of Visa and MasterCard soaring.

The Chinese payment industry is massive, and up until this announcement, was closed off to foreign-owned companies.

While foreigners or locals in the world’s second-largest economy could use their Visa or MasterCard, the companies were charged a fee by a government-approved company called UnionPay to process transactions. Chinese Visas or MasterCards had to be co-branded with UnionPay.

Customers in China spent $5.2 trillion on UnionPay’s network in 2013, according to China’s Central Bank, up 48 percent from the year before. By comparison, Visa handled $6.9 trillion in transactions on its global network in the same year.

“China obviously represents a massive opportunity for the networks … and one that the networks have been attempting to access for years,” Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Sanjay Sakhrani said.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express now will be allowed to set up their own networks in China through a subsidiary, China’s State Council said. The move is an effort to “promote healthy competition in the country’s bankcard clearing market,” the regulator said.

China’s payment industry has been a sore spot between the U.S. and that country for some time. The World Trade Organization ruled in 2012 that UnionPay was effectively a government-sanctioned monopoly.

Payment processors make most of their money by charging a small fee on every transaction in their networks. Access to China’s growing market could generate a significant amount of new revenue for Visa, MasterCard and American Express, once they establish a presence there.

“We are hopeful these new regulations will permit additional participants in the Chinese domestic market,” said Visa spokesman Paul Cohen.

MasterCard said China’s announcement was a “step in the right direction.”

Visa’s stock jumped $2.86, or 4 percent, to $68.21 in afternoon trading and MasterCard rose $3.73, also 4 percent, to $91.50.

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 24 – 30, 2026

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At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

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June 24, 2026

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Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.