The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Alibaba Group has teamed up to further promote the development of e-commerce and e-banking. An overall strategic co-operation deal was signed on Tuesday, which is an expansion of the two companies’ existing online payment partnership formed a year ago.

Alibaba reports strong growth that 6.29 million transactions with a total value of US$140 million were dealt From January to April through Alipay, the company’s online payment subsidiary, which almost equalled the total transactions in 2005. And over 40 per cent of the total online transactions were made through ICBC accounts.

Last year, the bank’s online payment business reached 11.6 billion yuan (US$1.45 billion), 120 per cent up on the previous year. During the first four months of this year, the figure was 6.56 billion yuan (US$820 million), a year-on-year growth of 100 per cent.

To boost online payment, Alipay will now accept the U key digital certificate issued by ICBC, which could both help control risk and facilitate clients from both groups. Alipay now has over 17 million clients, with a daily trading volume exceeding 30 million yuan (US$3.75 million).

The co-operation between the two firms also covers areas including financial consultancy to Alibaba’s 13 million online small- and medium-sized enterprises, and joint marketing in B2B, B2C and C2C sectors. ( CRIEnglish.com )