Alipay 'mobile wallet' app users have almost reached 100 million

China's largest e-payment company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Alipay Wednesday said that users of its "mobile wallet" app have reached nearly 100 million across the nation so far, while the number of Alipay users via mobile phone has also breached 100 million.

According to Alipay, about one-third of transactions are from mobile phones, eight times that of the same period last year. On Singles' Day this year, the transactions done via mobile phone reached 45.18 million, with a value of more than 11.3 -billion yuan ($1.85 billion).

About 80 percent of banking card transactions, 80 percent of prepaid charges and 60 percent of credit card payments across the nation are done via Alipay using its mobile phone app, Fan Zhiming, head of the wallet mobile app department in Alipay, said in a press release sent to the Global Times Wednesday.

Fan also said that the mobile wallet app will be developed as an independent brand to meet rising transaction demands and more off-line market.

According to Alipay, the wallet app could be used for mobile payments, mobile banking and other services, including mobile shopping and offline payment.

"The wallet app is not only for conducting transactions, it can also help you earn money with the help of Yu'ebao," Zhang Daosheng, spokesman of the Alipay, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Yu'ebao is a wealth management product launched in June by Alibaba Group, and it allows users of Alipay to use the money in their accounts to invest in Yu'ebao funds.

The latest research done by Internet service consultancy iResearch showed that Alipay has accounted for 49 percent of the market share of third-party payments. Gartner predicted that global users of mobile payments could reach 245 million in 2013, up 22 percent from the previous year, and a transaction sum of $235.4 billion, up 44 percent.