Chart of the Day: China’s Mobile Payment Transaction Volume Hits $41.51 Trillion in 2018

China has seen an explosive growth in mobile payments over the past five years. Transaction volume reached 277.4 trillion yuan ($41.51 trillion) in 2018, up more than 28 times from five years ago, according to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).

The total number of transactions made via mobile payment platforms surged to 60.53 billion last year, up from 1.67 billion back in 2013, a report from the central bank (link in Chinese) Thursday shows.

Mobile payment platforms Alipay and WeChat Pay control more than 90% of the market.

By the end of 2018, 424 commercial banks and 115 payment institutions were connected to the PBOC-backed NetsUnion Clearing Corp. — which serves as the sole intermediary for the clearing of nonbank online transactions.

Contact reporter Gao Baiyu (baiyugao@caixin.com)