Foreign credit card firms in China pressed to form local joint ventures

Beijing

CHINA is pressing foreign payment card companies to form local joint ventures for onshore operations, said three people familiar with the matter, a move that would counter a pledge on market access that Beijing made to US President Donald Trump.

The push to get foreign card issuers to enter into equity tie-ups with Chinese companies, instead of running fully owned units, comes ahead of Mr Trump's visit to China this week, and could further delay access to China's rapidly growing market for foreign card companies such as Mastercard and Visa.

The Trump administration has been a fierce critic of what it sees as Chin…