China Unionpay says the alliance will break barriers between different industries, helping them to coordinate and communicate, creating a single, open m-payments platform.

Members will work to promote mobile payment business adopting the international standard on contactless communication defined by the ISO, says a statement.

China Unipay says the platform will benefit firms in industries such as "the bus, metro, water, electricity and gas, cinema, petrol, hospital, commercial retail and many more".

The alliance "integrates the consumer's need, operator's network capability, bank's credibility as well as seller's marketing ability to forge a mobile electronic business circle that blends both remote and short range payment".

The group consists of 18 banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agriculture Bank of China and Construction Bank of China, mobile operators China Unicom and China Mobile, manufactures like Nokia and Lenovo and several card and chip card producers, terminal operators, system integrators and academies.

The collaborative approach is also being taken in Singapore, where authorities, banks, telcos and payment processors are cooperating to set up an interoperable infrastructure for contactless mobile transit and payments.