China's central bank sent out notifications to many payment service companies about attending an establishment conference Monday for the China Payment and Clearing Association, cnr.cn reported.

It's not certain whether third-party payment licenses will be released at the conference. Some industry insiders believe the license issuance may trigger a new round of industry shuffling. The website reported that it is quite likely that half of the current third-party payment providers will fail to get a license and thus be eliminated.