China Payment and Settlement Association was founded in Beijing Monday, with 164 members. Although the long-awaited third-party payment licenses were not granted to payment companies Monday, experts believe they soon will be.

"The central bank is in charge of the supervision of the payment industry, and the association is responsible for the self-discipline of the industry. The establishment of the association means the double-layer supervision system of government-level supervision and self-discipline in the industry has been completed," Xu Kun, an analyst at CCID Consulting, told the Global Times.

As online business booms in China, payment agencies are developing quickly. But there has been little regulation of the services, especially third-party payment services. In June 2010 the central bank ruled that non-financial institutions involved in payment services should obtain third-party payment licenses in order to stay in the industry. So far, 32 companies have applied but no one has received a license yet.

"The licenses will be issued very soon, and a large number of qualified third-party payment companies will obtain them," Xu said.

Yu Chen, vice president of YeePay.com, a member of the new association, told the Global Times that the double-layer supervision system and third-party payment licenses will benefit payment agents, especially online payment agents.

"Payment service is very different from other services and industries. We deal directly with money, so a high level of security, sophisticated regulations and effective inner and outer supervision are critical. The double-layer supervision system is very necessary. Also, with completed supervision and regulations, online payment service providers will have solid support to enter more industries that only believed in traditional financial institutions in the past," Yu said.

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