China has become a world leader when it comes to making banking payments through mobile. A recent report found the number of payments has increased by 255pc on the same time last year.
The report compiled by The People’s Bank of China found that year-on-year by the end of the first quarter, more than 3.89tn yuan (€470m) had been sent through mobile devices in the world’s most populous country.
Perhaps one of the most important things to consider when examining the report is that it only takes into account transactions made through establishing banking outfits, not some of the other third-party money transfer services available in the country, such as WeChat or AliPay.
The country of more than 1.1bn inhabitants is reported to have about 700m smartphones in circulation as of last March, making it one of the most potentially lucrative markets in the world for the growing power of mobile banking.
As a whole, e-commerce has grown substantially in the Asian country, with Alibaba proving to be one of the biggest global hits that saw its recent IPO of US$16bn make it one of the largest of its kind for a technology involved with online business and technology in general.
Chinese yan mobile image via Shutterstock