Online payment companies expanding

By Zhao Qian

As many traditional industries struggle to make it through the financial crisis, the electronic online payment service industry has been taking off and finding new ways to grow, analysts said Tuesday.

"More people are shopping online to save money due to the financial downturn, so third-party online payment services have become very popular," Yu Chen, vice president of YeePay, said at the 2009 China Internet Conference Tuesday.

Industries like online gaming, which use YeePay's services, have been very popular during the crisis, Yu said, adding that the company, founded in 2003, is entering a period of accelerated development.

The online payment industry made major strides over the past year. By the middle of 2009, there were 75.71 million users of online payment systems, up 45 percent over 2008, according to a report recently released by the China Internet Network Information Center.

Analysts said the industry's growth could be bolstered by a safe and secure credit system.

"A credit system can bring sustainable development to our company," said Zhang Kun, director of the commercial cooperation department of Alipay, an online payment subsidiary of Alibaba Group.

Alipay accounts for 59 percent of all online transactions, according to Zhang.

Facing serious competition from domestic and foreign rivals, YeePay is trying to find new ways to develop.

"We will provide services for social networking sites," Tang Bin, CEO of YeePay said on the sidelines of the conference.

"We will also explore different systems like mobile online payment services," he said.

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