The central bank on June 21 also issued a circular, stepping up stringent control over the crowded and chaotic third-party payment industry.

The rules, which will come into effect on September 1, 2010, stipulated non-bank payment service providers must apply for a business license by September 2011. In addition, the providers must have a registered capital of at least 100 million yuan ($14.6 million) for a license and should have been making profits for two consecutive years, said the central bank.

The order gives the central bank oversight over a huge payments network that has sprung up outside the traditional banking system due to an online business boom. There are about 300 payment companies across the country, but prospects of the sector are shaky due to a lack of regulation. And some small providers are believed to be involved in illegal activities, such as money laundering and credit fraud.

"The new policy is a long-needed boon for the health of the industry and almost half of the companies will be forced out of the market," said Fang Yingzhi, an analyst at the China E-Commerce Research Center.

"The regulation will be an accelerator for the sector and allow more room for large players," said Su Hui, spokeswoman of the Hangzhou-based Alipay, the country's top online payment company.

Alipay grabbed a 52-percent share of the online payment market in 2009, followed by 24.7 percent of the Shenzhen-based Tenpay, an online payment unit of Tencent, said the Analysys International Consulting Co. Ltd.