Alibaba.com, the biggest B2B Web marketplace in China, is said to buy into China Minsheng Banking Corp. (SHSE: 600016 and SEHK: 1988).
Via the deal, its online payment platform Alipay.com will gain a payment-related license.
In order to enter the domestic mobile payment sector, China Mobile Ltd. (SEHK: 0941 and NYSE: CHL), the nation's biggest mobile phone operator, entered into a strategic partnership with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD Bank and SHSE: 600000), a city-level commercial lender in Shanghai, the financialhub of China, earlier this year. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (NYSE: CHU, SEHK: 0762 and SHSE: 600050), another leading Chinese telecommunications carrier, also reached an agreement with Bank of Communications (BoCom, SEHK: 3328 and SHSE: 601328), the fifth-biggest commercial lender in China, recently.
There is no smoke without fire, said industry experts, despite that both Alibaba.com and Minsheng Banking denied the report. Notably, an online banking interlink and intercommunication application system by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, will be formally launched in August. Alipay.com, together with other independent third-party payment platforms, may be suspended to access into the system. In order to avoid the situation, Alibaba.com is likely to team up with a bank to gain a payment-related license for the unit.
Source: www.hexun.com (April 20, 2010)
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