Is the central bank banning "cashless"?

On the morning of August 10, it was reported that the Wuhan Branch of the Central Bank interviewed the head of the public relations department of Alipay’s parent company Ant Financial and made three clear requirements: remove the word “cashless” from the Cashless City Week event ” words; remove all promotional slogans containing the words “cashless”; publicly inform merchants not to refuse to accept RMB cash. The news also quoted an "internal source from the central bank" saying that the head office issued a document requiring all branches to follow the practices of the Wuhan branch and strengthen guidance on cashless payments.

In this regard, a relevant person in charge of the central bank made it clear to a reporter from China News Service that the central bank's head office did not issue a document requesting the ban on "cashless". “We don’t hate cashless.”

Chen Liang, general manager of Ant Financial’s brand and public communication department, said that Ant Financial Group CEO Jing Xiandong previously issued an open letter that fully expressed Ant Financial’s attitude towards “cashless” .

The theme of "Cashless City Week" is to let more and more consumers experience the convenient life of mobile payment. At the same time, this also allows businesses to reap mobile dividends and promotes the creation of intelligent, green and low-carbon modern cities.

This round of discussion about "cashless" originated from recent media reports on a small number of merchants "rejecting cash." In early July, a noodle restaurant in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province was deemed illegal by the Zhuhai Branch of the People's Bank of China for "rejecting cash" and only accepting mobile payments. In early August, two major platforms, Alipay and WeChat Pay, promoted mobile payments through cashless weeks and cashless days respectively, which also pushed "cashless" onto the hot search list. However, "cash refusal" is a new phenomenon and there are no specific regulations to deal with it yet.