The transaction value of China’s third-party mobile payments more than doubled in the opening quarter of 2017 from a year ago, as more consumers used their smartphones to manage their finances and send cash gifts, or red envelopes, during the Chinese New Year festival.

According to Beijing-based iResearch, the gross merchandise value (GMV) of third-party mobile payments jumped 113 per cent year-on-year to CNY22.7 trillion ($3.34 trillion) in Q1 (see chart below, click to enlarge).
Personal applications accounted for 71 per cent of total third-party mobile payment GMV during the quarter, while mobile finance made up 17.5 per cent and mobile consumption accounted for 9.1 per cent.

Alipay maintained its position as the leader with a 54 per cent share, followed by Tenpay with a 40 per cent share.

A handful of smaller payment platforms, including JDPay, shared the remaining 6 per cent share.