The central bank has successfully recruited Alipay. The direct connection model has been broken. Jack Ma can no longer bypass the central bank.

Domestic mass consumption payment methods have gradually shifted from offline to online, and China is undoubtedly the world leader in the connection between online and offline. The support of the unique financial system and the public's consumer awareness has actually led to the birth of "Net Union". Now in our view, Net Union is like "born with a golden key", and it has inherent advantages in disconnecting direct connections and promoting reserve fund supervision. The launch of "Net Union" also announced the end of the era of "direct connection" of third-party payment institutions to banks. At the same time, with the opening of a new pattern of online payment market composed of UnionPay, banks, Net Union, and third-party payment, new games are still going on.

Just a few days ago, the official website of the China Association of Clearing and Payments showed that the online payment clearing platform for non-bank payment institutions has started trial operation. The "NetsUnion" that has been rumored for half a year has been launched quietly. At the same time, the first batch of four banks and three third-party payment institutions such as Alipay, NetBank Online and Tenpay were also announced on the day of the launch. According to previous media reports, NetsUnion Clearing Co., Ltd. has a registered capital of 2 billion yuan and a total of 44 shareholders, of which 38 are third-party payment institutions. In order to ensure the independence of NetsUnion, in the design of the equity structure, six units under the central bank will jointly invest about 700 million yuan, accounting for more than 30% of the shares and becoming the largest shareholder.

In addition, Alipay and Tenpay, which have an absolute dominant position in the third-party payment market, each hold about 10% of the shares; the China Clearing and Payment Association holds 3% of the shares and also exercises voting rights on behalf of small and medium-sized payment institutions that do not meet the qualifications for equity participation. Thus, a new online payment market pattern has been unfolded. It is expected that the platform will connect to banks and third-party payment institutions with ready technology every month in the future to promote further in-depth supervision, but it will not have any impact on the consumer experience. A simple and clear explanation of "Net Union" is actually a platform that provides transfer and clearing services for third-party institutions to initiate payment transactions. In the past, third-party payment was directly connected to banks, but now third-party payment is uniformly provided with transfer and clearing services by Net Union.

The previous model bypassed the central bank's clearing system, making it impossible for banks and the central bank to grasp specific transaction information and accurate fund flows, which brought great difficulties to the central bank's various financial tasks such as anti-money laundering, financial supervision, monetary policy adjustment, and financial data analysis. In the view of industry insiders, the disconnection of "direct connection" makes the account information and fund flows of third-party payment institutions public and transparent, and at the same time, the central bank's rectification of the online payment market has taken another step forward. Obviously, the trial operation of NetsUnion is just the beginning of a new era, and the game between various parties in the payment market has never ended.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.