(Yicai Global) Feb. 12 -- American payments giant MasterCard has received a license to set up a bank card-clearing institution in China in tandem with a central bank division, becoming only the second foreign firm to obtain a permit to enter the country's USD27 trillion payments market.

MasterCard and NetsUnion Clearing plan to form the institution from their existing joint venture MasterCard NUCC Information Technology Beijing, the People's Bank of China announced yesterday. The unit will have one year to prepare before applying to the central bank to open.

Opening up the bank card market is an important part of widening access to China's financial sector, the PBOC said, adding that it will continue to do so as it is conducive to promoting international development of the nation's payment and clearing services and providing diversified services to all companies in the industry.

Rival American Express was the first overseas firm to land the same license in November 2018 when it opted to work with Hangzhou-based LianLian Pay to set up Express Hangzhou Technology Services, China's first joint venture clearing house. But it still has not opened, leaving China UnionPay as the country's sole bank card clearing institution.

The central bank granted Express Hangzhou permission to open for business last month and the company hopes to have the clearing center up and running in the first half.

MasterCard and NetsUnion set up MasterCard NUCC in March with registered capital of CNY1 billion (USD143.3 million), with MasterCard holding a 51 percent stake. Ling Hai, co-president of MasterCard Asia Pacific, is its chairman and Dong Junfeng, president of NetsUnion, is its vice chairman.

Editors: Dou Shicong, James Boynton