The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China yesterday said it has cut the interfaces that let bank card users pay via Alipay's quick payment service in the bank's system from five to one.
It also shaved the cap on daily payments made to Alibaba's platform.
The bank, one of the big-four lenders in the country, said it is consolidating the five interfaces located across the country into one in Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, where Alibaba is based.
"The move won't affect users if Alipay cooperates," ICBC said yesterday after local media reported that some ICBC customers were not able to sign up with Alipay for its "Express Payment" service, which lets users make online payments by registered bank cards without going through the bank's own site.
Alipay's service is widely used in China by online shoppers.
The big-four banks — ICBC, China Construction Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China, and the Bank of China — have lowered the cap on payment per transaction as well as total payment per day that users can make via Alipay.
ICBC and CCB cut the payment limit per transaction from 50,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan while AgBank and BOC cut the limit from 50,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan.
ICBC said the service was carried out "illegally" in the last three years while AgBank said the payment service threatens the security of customers' funds.
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