China says WTO rejects U.S. claims in bank card ruling

GENEVA, July 16 (Reuters) - A World Trade Organization dispute panel has rejected U.S. claims about the monopoly status of electronic payment services firm China UnionPay and the claim that China has committed itself to cross-border supply of such services, China's Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) said in a statement on Monday.

MofCom was reacting to the panel's decision, published by the WTO on Monday, which found China had discriminated against foreign firms and maintained UnionPay as a monopoly supplier for some services.

MofCom said it welcomed several of the panel's findings but had reservations about the finding that the electronic payment service at issue should be classified as "all payment and money transmission services", without elaborating.