Abstract

An efficient payment system is necessary to support efficient trading in goods and services within open market economies. Information technology has been used by many of these economies to achieve efficiency in their payment systems. The People's Republic of China, an emerging market economy, regards an efficient electronic payment system as imperative for economic liberalization, for supporting low cash usage and improving monetary control within the economy. By means of the "Golden Card" project, it aimed for a flexible, convenient, fast, secure and seamless electronic payment system beneficial to economic performance. Although efficiencies in the electronic payment system were achieved in some of the developed regions, there have been teething problems such as low public confidence in the system, weak technological support and inadequate regulatory framework that prevent the full realization of a supportive payment system for overall economic development.