PBOC Considers More Online Payment Licenses, Official Says

(Beijing) – The People's Bank of China is mulling issuing more licenses to Internet companies to handle online payments, a central bank official says.

PBOC deputy governor Liu Shiyu also said greater attention should be paid to risks related to financial services offered on the Net.

The central bank was considering issuing a third batch of licenses for handling online payments because the e-commerce sector was growing so fast, Liu said at an Internet industry conference on August 13. The value of online transactions hit 6 trillion yuan last year, he said, adding that while the value of individual transactions was low, the number jumped from 2011.