Online retailer 360buy to partner with China UnionPay
Shanghai. September 1. INTERFAX-CHINA - Online consumer electronics retailer 360buy has agreed to partner with state-owned credit card company China UnionPay Co. Ltd. (UnionPay) for online and mobile payments, UnionPay announced Aug. 31.
Beijing-based 360buy launched its UnionPay-based online payment service in June. By inserting a UnionPay smart Secure Digital (SD) card into a mobile phone, users will be able to make payments on 360buy.com, as well as balance inquiries, according to the announcement.
A UnionPay representative surnamed Wang confirmed the news when contacted by Interfax Sept. 1, but declined to provide further details. UnionPay holds a virtual monopoly on the domestic credit card market.
The move comes after 360buy ended its collaboration with Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.'s online payment affiliate Alipay.com Co. Ltd. (Alipay) in May this year.
UnionPay was always the natural successor to Alipay as 360buy's online payment service provider, Zhang Meng, a researcher with Beijing-based consultancy Analysys International, told Interfax Sept. 1.
Alipay is China's largest third-party online payment service provider by market share, handling 45.50 percent of online transactions in the second quarter (Q2) of 2011, according to Analysys International. Meanwhile, UnionPay ranked third with 11.10 percent of transactions processed over the same period.
China's third-party online transactions in Q2 totaled RMB 460.90 billion ($72.24 billion), up 95.30 percent from a year earlier.
The People's Bank of China (PBoC), China's central bank, began requiring non-financial companies providing payment services to apply for operating licenses in May 2010. On May 26 this year, the PBoC issued its first 27 licenses.
Yesterday, the bank issued an additional 13 licenses, one of which went to UnionPay's subsidiary Shanghai UnionPay Electronic Payment Service Co. Ltd.
-CC