The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is drafting new rules to regulate mobile payments, the Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily reported Wednesday.
Fan Shuangwen, deputy head of PBOC's department of payment and settlement, told a mobile payment industry conference that the rules will look to encourage innovation and interoperability across competing services.
In 2010, the PBOC introduced regulations requiring non-financial institutions to apply for a license in order to provide mobile payment services. So far, 37 payment institutions have been granted mobile payment licenses, according to Fan.
China's mobile payments market is forecast to be the largest in the world by 2015, comprising $80 billion in payments from 441 million active users, according to recent figures from research house Kapronasia.