China's central bank on Thursday announced it had issued 30,000 yuan (4,344 U.S. dollars) fines to both Alibaba's Alipay and Tencent's Tenpay, reportedly because of the online payment companies' failures to implement real-name registration among users.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said Alipay was fined 30,000 yuan (4,344 U.S. dollars) on April 21, and Tenpay was fined the same amount on May 3 for its failure to strictly implement regulations.
This is the first time the central bank has publicly disclosed punishments to third party mobile payment platforms Alipay and Tenpay.
A source close to the central bank told financial media outlet Caixin that the companies were punished due to a failure to fully implement real-name registration.
In response, both companies claimed that they have launched system upgrades to carry out real-name registration. The companies also vowed to further their efforts in the future.
At the year end of 2015, PBOC issued the Regulations for Non-bank Payment Agencies Mobile Payment. The regulations stress real-name registration, with the aim of controlling payment risks on mobile platforms.
According to Internet statistics provider analysys.com, Alipay and Tenpay are the top two companies in terms of third-party mobile payment market share in China. Alipay has a 54.1 percent share, and Tenpay 37.02 percent.
