China's Q3 third-party payments reach 334.3b yuan

SHANGHAI - Third-party payment transactions in China have exploded in the third quarter, rising to 334.3 billion yuan ($55 billion), a tech industry analyst said on Wednesday.

The figure is a stratospheric 173 percent increase on the second quarter, according to Analysys International.

The top three third-party payment service providers -- Alipay, Lakala and Tenpay -- took about 93 percent of the market. Alipay's share was 64.4 percent.

The Internet giants such as Baidu and Sina have also introduced mobile payment services.

Despite the trend, China's third-party payment system is still in its infancy and the future market pattern will polarize and become more dynamic, said the report.