American Express Co. said its joint venture firm, Express (Hangzhou) Technology Services Co., received approval from the People's Bank of China for a network clearing license, making it the first foreign payments network to be licensed to clear RMB transactions in the mainland country, according to a company release.

Express Co. is a joint venture with Chinese fintech LianLian DigiTech Co. Ltd., which has built a network to clear transactions charged on American Express cards. The venture is also compatible with several of the major mobile wallets in China. 

"We are pleased to be the first foreign company to receive this license," Stephen Squeri, chairman and CEO of American Express, said in a company release. "This approval represents an important step in our long-term growth strategy and is an historic moment, not only for American Express, but for the continued growth and development of the payments industry in mainland China."

Zhengyu Zhang, chairman of LianLian DigiTech Co., said the company is committed to providing the best payments and payment-related fintech services to its commercial customers and consumers around the world.

"Against the backdrop of globalization and China's opening up of its financial industry, we have been actively introducing China's mobile payments to the world, while striving to learn from and connect with world class financial companies," he said. "We are confident that our joint venture with American Express will provide more diversified bank card services to consumers and commercial customers in and outside of China."