Online retailor JD (previously known as 360buy) planned to relaunch the revamped version of Chinabank Payments at the end of this year or first quarter of next year in a bid to foster a homegrown payment system (report in Chinese).
Founded in 2003, Chinabank Payments’ business covers online payment, mobile phone payment, and fixed-line payment.
After acquiring Chinabank Payments in October 2012, JD reconstructed the company in terms of share and legal structure, connection with JD accounts and applied for various financial licenses, said Liu Changhong, head of JD’s Financial Development Department.
Chinabank Payments is positioned as a strategic focus for JD to explore online financial business. JD dumped all previous third-party payment solutions and denied account access of other services this August including, AliPay, Sina Weibo, Tencent’s TenPay and WeChat, to prepare for its relaunch.
JD made these moves because third-party payment companies have access to large amounts of user data and core information, including per customer transaction, turnover, and capital flow, Liu added.
While the rivalry among WeChat payment and Alipay Wallet is heating up, the entrance of Chinabank Payments, which is backed by the deep-pocketed JD, will no doubt bring the competition in mobile payment sector to a feverish pitch.
The financial landscape for JD is becoming clearer with the imminent release of Chinabank Payments and the debut of Jingbaobei, JD’s fundraising project aimed at its suppliers. Moreover, the company also planned to roll out other financial products, such as funds, insurance and micro-credit financial services.