, which has a century-old relationship with China, has partnered with partners to create and build scenario services locally, making the clearing network stronger and better.
written by | Zhang Haodong
produced by | Payment Encyclopedia Two years ago, the unveiling ceremony of Liantong (Hangzhou) Technology Services Co., Ltd. (referred to as " Connect Company ") of American Express and Lianlian Group in China was launched. The first and only approved Sino-foreign joint venture bank card clearing institution in China officially opened. Two years later, the number of cooperative banks of the Connect company has continued to increase, the merchant acceptance map has continued to expand, and the exclusive American Express Yaohong Card has also been launched for the Chinese market, and the number of cardholders has achieved rapid growth.
As Liu Weide, CEO of Liantong Company, said at the opening ceremony: "The advantages of American Express are not that people have me, but that people have me. Product management capabilities, customer management capabilities, and risk management capabilities are the three unique advantages of American Express."
As the first and only licensed Sino-foreign joint venture bank card clearing institution in China, the operation of Liantong Company is of milestone significance, filling the gap in the international card organization in the domestic bank card clearing market, and providing a reference sample for foreign card organizations to enter China.
01
in China's origins and growth
In fact, when it comes to American Express, many cardholders are not unfamiliar with it. Perhaps the most impressive thing is the Centurion Black Gold Card. The Centurion Black Gold Card was issued in 1999 and is recognized as the world-renowned high-end credit card and is known as the "king of cards".
This company, founded in 1850, started its business with express delivery. In 1891, American Express issued the world's first traveler's check . In 1916, American Express established its first Asian office in Hong Kong, China, and entered Shanghai two years later.
American Express’s relationship with the Chinese market can be traced back to the 1890s and has been more than a hundred years since then. At that time, American Express had become a world-renowned business and travel service company and one of the earliest multinational financial service giants in the world.
Since 1982, American Express has returned and has established representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to carry out American Express traveler check business. In 2004, American Express joined hands with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to issue China's first credit card "Peony Express Card" with the American Express logo, indicating that American Express has obtained the first batch of cardholders in China.
If you want to truly enter the domestic bank card clearing market, it still needs to start from the opening of the Connect company, which means a brand new starting point. After the Bank of China
Bank of China card clearing market enters the substantive opening stage, American Express is still the first in China and is currently the only wild card organization to obtain a bank card clearing business license.
As early as 2018, American Express submitted a preparation application for bank card clearing institutions and was reviewed and approved by Central Bank and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission . The reason why it was able to successfully win the cards is on the one hand due to the opening of my country's financial market policies, which was driven by the policy trend, and on the other hand, it is American Express's persistent and unswerving willingness to enter China.
In the context of fierce competition in the domestic market, American Express has been thinking about how to seize opportunities and stand out from the market. In the two years since the opening of
, the company has developed steadily and built and operated a bank card clearing network in an orderly manner. The network availability has always been 100%, and no major accidents have occurred. It has withstood the challenge of "Double Eleven" for two consecutive years.
In addition, Liantong Company has joined hands with bank partners to launch more than 80 American Express brand RMB credit and debit card products, and has expanded its merchant acceptance map in China through its partners, achieving access to tens of millions of merchant acceptance terminals, and continuously improving the coverage rate of domestic merchants.
On the 100-year development path of American Express entering China, from its initial understanding and adaptation to its current roots and growth, American Express has gradually integrated into the domestic payment market and witnessed the process of China's bank card industry from scratch.
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Product, service and innovation
"Provide the best customer experience in the world every day" is American Express's corporate vision, "trust", "security" and "service", and it is the brand spirit that American Express has inherited for 172 years. In the mainland Chinese market, these are also interpreted.
Facing the increasingly strict regulatory policies and an increasingly complex market environment, American Express has solved problems in customer conversion from multiple dimensions of products, rights and services, and has made the clearing network stronger and better.
in the country, American Express was the first to launch the "one-core dual application" technology. The "one-core dual application" technology is to be equipped with applications that comply with domestic PBOC standards and overseas EMV standards on the same chip, achieving one card domestic and overseas universal use, improving the security and convenience of credit cards.
American Express has also launched the first American Express Ray Red Card specially designed for the Chinese market, showing the elements of Chinese red on the card surface, which is in line with the younger generation of cardholders' pursuit of credit cards' aesthetic, cultural identity and fashion trends. The launch of American Express Yaohong Card provides cardholders with convenient and diverse domestic and overseas shopping experiences, while superimposing multiple gifts and rich rights, including online and offline promotional activities.
From the card design of American Express Yaohong Card to the customization of rights, it reflects its in-depth insight into the Chinese market customer base. Even if the interests of each bank's American Express Yaohong Card are different, they are enough to show the new design and a unique understanding of the product.
At present, large state-owned banks and joint-stock banks have almost cooperated with Liantong companies to launch American Express Yaohong Card, and mainstream third-party payment institutions such as Lakala , Tonglian Payment , Yinsheng, Pay Linmen , etc., can already provide domestic merchants with acquisition business that supports American Express cards.
The essence of consumption upgrade is the upgrade of services, the transformation from product logic to service logic. As one of the most commonly used payment tools at present, the competition for credit cards has evolved from the past dispute over consumption limits to the struggle for member management, which is exactly what American Express is good at.
All of all, American Express has been deepening customer base operations, enriching equity allocation, and increasing equity application scenarios, which is exactly in line with the current card-use psychology of card-holding members. A perfect rights system is the advantage of American Express’s communication card use. It not only maintains the stickiness of cardholders, but also advocates the concept of using a card not only for consumption, but also for obtaining high-quality services.
Connect Company has also cooperated with leading mobile payment platforms such as Yunflash Payment, Alipay , WeChat Pay to achieve full coverage of the mobile payment side. It is also the first card organization to launch a one-stop pet rights platform and parent-child rights platform. It keeps up with the new changes in the consumption needs of cardholders and continuously expands service boundaries through the innovation of rights.
innovation is the gene rooted in American Express and is also the key to the upgrading and evolution of its products and services. American Express’s many innovative attempts in its credit card business have allowed the credit card industry to find new ideas to break through.
The differentiated rights are sought after by veteran American Express fans and young groups. American Express uses all small scenarios to achieve ecological rights design, and then uses rights to give back to cardholders.In terms of network innovation, Connect Company has created a "one-stop right-to-ownership" solution in the industry. This solution allows cardholders to directly obtain a smoother American Express platform rights experience in the bank app, without having to jump or switch the app, and transform the idea of "you come here for the industry" into "door-to-door service" of "I've been in the past".
Under the concept of openness, cooperation and win-win, Connecting the company and its partners are aimed at local co-creating and co-building scenario services and card products, and serve cardholders in mainland China with rich global service experience and pursuit of product innovation.
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Global innovation empowers
Where you have to "look back" while "going forward". Under the guidance of differentiation strategy, American Express has narrowed the distance with cardholder members, organically integrating financial services with cardholder members' daily lives such as food, clothing, housing and transportation.
Chinese market has huge consumption potential and broad development prospects for the credit card market. As the first wild card organization to conduct business licenses, American Express has previously had high expectations and attention to the Chinese market.
In the past two years, through the Connect company, it has continuously deepened its domestic bank card market and built a complete business system. Whether it is the card issuing end, clearing end, or the order acquisition end, you can see the important role American Express plays in China.
Connect company's goal is not only to provide high-quality local services for American Express cardholders, but also rely on the independently developed new cross-border consumption cashback platform to provide cardholders with cross-border services, so that American Express brand RMB credit card members are more at ease when shopping overseas and swiping their cards abroad. Since the new cross-border consumption cashback platform was launched, cardholder members have received multiple cashback offers and rewards.
In addition to being consumer-oriented, American Express will also rely on its global network advantages and innovative services to help domestic small and medium-sized enterprises provide diversified services in cross-border overseas travel through connectivity companies.
Compared with the consumer side, small and medium-sized enterprises still have a lot of room for market prospects and value-added needs. Especially the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce has caused the demand for cross-border payment and settlement services for small and medium-sized enterprises to explode, but many cross-border trade operators have encountered considerable challenges and constraints.
For example, in terms of paying overseas procurement, logistics, marketing and other fees, international credit cards are mainly based on international credit cards. International credit cards have many problems such as difficulty in opening cards, low credit limits, and high transaction costs. Connect companies are working hard to work with their partners to help the development of domestic small and medium-sized enterprises.
It can be foreseen that with the acceleration of the pace of technological innovation, connect companies will gradually connect to more needs of small and medium-sized enterprises in cross-border trade from bank card services, empowering B-end global innovation.
Based on the century-old accumulation in China, American Express continues to deepen its roots in the Chinese market through the Connect company, and grows upward and spreads its branches and leaves with its partners, bringing new value to cardholders and small and medium-sized enterprises, and bringing unlimited possibilities with innovation.
