Didi Pay Fined 4.27M Yuan by People’s Bank of China

Information released on July 15 by the Business Administration Department of the People’s Bank of China (Beijing) showed that Didi Pay, a subsidiary of Chinese ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing, has been formally warned for 12 kinds of illegal acts and fined 4.27 million yuan ($632,349). The decision to implement administrative punishment was made on July 8.

The reasons mainly include: the firm’s alleged uploading of inaccurate transaction information, failing to implement authenticity requirements, completeness and traceability of transaction information; failing to strictly implement the requirements of the real-name system for customer identity and failing to carry out verification of the willingness of legal persons to open accounts as required; failing to strictly implement the requirements of the real-name system for customer identity and failing to retain relevant materials as required; irregularly setting up acquiring settlement accounts; and opening payment accounts for financial enterprises or enterprises engaged in financial business.

Didi Pay is wholly-owned by Shanghai Shiyuan Technology Co., Ltd., which is itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Didi. In 2017, Didi obtained a payment license through acquisition. According to public information, the acquired licensed payment institution, 19Pay, was established in July 2010 and granted a payment license issued by the PBC in June 2012. The official PBC website shows that 19Pay’s license is valid until June 2022, allowing it to conduct internet payment business in China.

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At that time, some industry analysts pointed out that for Didi, the acquisition of a payment license enabled it to increase its payment channels, thus saving costs. Besides, payment is an important infrastructure for developing financial business, and a good payment business will be conducive to Didi’s deepening of its financial layout.

In addition, Chen Xi, then the general manager of Didi Pay and head of the anti-money laundering leading group, was warned by the Business Administration Department of PBC and fined 174,000 yuan ($25,768) for being responsible for four of the above-mentioned illegal acts.

Another individual who received the fine was Jiao Yang, also a former general manager of Didi Pay and head of the anti-money laundering leading group, and who was warned by the Business Administration Department and fined 206,000 yuan ($30,507) for being responsible for five types of illegal acts.