Mobile payments continue to rise in 2019

The mobile payment market saw constant increases in 2019 in terms of usage and amounts, according to a China UnionPay report.

People made such payments no less than three times a day on average through channels connected via China UnionPay in the past year.

Mobile payment has become an important carrier of inclusive finance and has won the favor of county and township residents as well as small and micro business owners, the report said.

Self-employed entrepreneurs, private business owners, online shop owners use it more frequently than others, and around one-third of them used it more than five times a day last year.

The report showed that metros and more than 1,600 public buses in 32 cities across the country accepted UnionPay mobile payment. Also, more than 10,000 parking lots in 200-plus cities have adopted UnionPay’s digital payment system.

In the past year, financial technologies enabled users to enjoy more convenience and security while making payments on their mobile phones. New identity authentication technologies such as biometric identification further facilitated the market together with traditional password authentication methods, China UnionPay noted.

With the popularization of financial knowledge and efforts to crack down on telecom network fraud, the general public’s awareness of risk prevention has improved, it said.

Data from the study showed that 51 percent of consumers experienced online fraud last year, a decrease of 16 percent compared with 2018. And the proportion of people who suffered financial losses declined by around a third year on year.

The report was based on a survey conducted by China UnionPay, 17 national commercial banks and 18 payment agencies. About 62,000 valid questionnaires were screened, with about 70 percent of respondents being between the ages of 25 and 45.