Core Viewpoint - A significant corruption case within the payment industry has been revealed, involving Liu Guoliang, the former head of China UnionPay's business operations center, who embezzled over 19 million yuan in just three years, highlighting a deep-rooted gray interest chain in the payment industry [2] Group 1: Corruption Case Details - Liu Guoliang exploited loopholes from the 2016 credit card transaction fee reform, misclassifying high-profit merchants to obtain illegal profits [2] - The case involved substantial bribes, including 7.665 million yuan from Haike Rongtong and over 1 million yuan in "training fees" from Fu Linmen, which went undetected for three years [3] Group 2: Internal Control Failures - The internal control mechanisms within China UnionPay failed, as the "review-recheck-approval" system became centralized under Liu Guoliang, leading to unchecked power [5] - The payment system's technical safeguards failed to monitor abnormal fee changes and verify the logical relationship between merchant scale and fee tiers, allowing for rampant power abuse [5] Group 3: Broader Implications - The case reflects a collusive ecosystem within the entire payment industry, where payment institutions disguised profit transfers, and internal oversight ignored irregularities [5] - The lack of transparent supervision allowed small powers to significantly impact national financial security, as evidenced by similar corruption cases [5] Group 4: Future Strategies - The new leadership at China UnionPay aims to implement a "platformization and digital intelligence" strategy, emphasizing the need for robust institutional frameworks to restore trust [6] - Proposed measures include using AI to monitor fee changes in real-time and employing blockchain technology to enhance transaction transparency, breaking the centralized power structure [6]