Online payments during China's Singles' Day hit 22.32 trln yuan

BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese online payment clearinghouse NetsUnion and card payment giant China UnionPay reported online payments worth 22.32 trillion yuan (about 3.48 trillion U.S. dollars) during this year's Singles' Day shopping spree from Nov. 1 to 11, data from the central bank shows.

During the 11-day period, over 27 billion transactions were processed by the platforms, surging 17.96 percent year on year, with the total value involved up 14.98 percent year on year, said the People's Bank of China.

Payment services were safe, efficient and convenient, and the scale of related business, as well as residents' consumption, increased steadily during the shopping festival, according to the central bank.

The Singles' Day shopping festival was first initiated by Alibaba on Nov. 11, 2009, and has since become one of the world's largest online shopping sprees.