The undated photo shows a person trying to log into her Wechat account by touching the screen of her cell phone. [Photo: Xinhua]
China's internet giants Alibaba and Tencent are reportedly backing the People's Bank of China's new regulations aimed at curbing financial risks such as fraud and money laundering.
The new rules, introduced by the central bank in December last year, require real-name registration for all non-bank payment accounts, and classifies them into three categories depending on the security levels.
The size of payments allowed through such accounts ranges from 1,000 yuan (155 U.S. dollars) to 200,000 yuan per year.
The aim of the policy is partly to avoid large sums of money being deposited in third-party payment accounts, which are beyond the protection of bank deposit insurance and could leave consumers vulnerable to possible risks.
In addition to limiting the size of transactions, the new regulation also bans non-banking online payment platforms from opening accounts for firms engaged in financial services like lending, securities investment and insurance.
Last year, China's mobile banking market passed 9 trillion yuan, of which Tencent's apps made up nearly 18 percent.
The volume of mobile banking transactions in China is expected to exceed 28 trillion yuan in 2016.
The new regulation will take effect on July 1, 2016.
Real-name registration requires applicants to provide their legal name and national identification number to use services.
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