China Loosens New Mobile Payment Rules to Put Small Businesses at Ease

China is taking a more moderate approach to strengthening management of the mobile payment market, in response to complaints that central bank rules announced in October could push operational costs up for small-business owners.

Payment platforms will roll out new merchant barcodes for businesses to receive payments, according to a Tuesday statement released by the Payment & Clearing Association of China, a self-regulatory industry organization supervised by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Businesses will be free to choose whether to use the new codes or continue to use their personal codes as before.