The People's Bank of China has published a report saying that it has issued licenses for non-financial institutions to operate payment businesses to 27 companies, including Alipay.com.

Rumors on the Internet revealed that the Chinese B2B e-commerce group Alibaba has set up a commercial bank subsidiary, which has gained the approvals of the People's Bank of China and China Banking Regulatory Commission.

According to Ouyang Weimin, the director of the Payment System Department of the People's Bank of China, PBOC plans to issue licenses to Chinese online third-party payment platforms to bring more competition and a higher level of security into this sector of the industry.