Third-party payment firms enter the fray

The move came after an unsuccessful cooperation project between CCB and Alibaba in 2007: Alibaba complained that the bank was overcautious when extending loans to companies, while CCB indicated it couldn't get enough data on companies from Alibaba.

After half a year, CCB's platform reached a transaction volume of 3.5 billion yuan with more than 10,000 registered stores.

Pang Xiusheng, vice-president of the bank, said it would never charge rents, commissions or advertising fees for stores on its online platform, and that the lender expects profits from services such as online loans and secured transactions, instead of the price differentials of the goods.

Other banks such as China Minsheng Banking Corp and China Citic Bank also plan to launch similar e-commerce platforms this year.

Credibility is the banks' biggest advantage when developing e-commerce businesses. In addition, they have strong capital strength to support them, said He.

He said existing bank operations such as settlement, clearing and credit services, as well as their IT infrastructure and outlets, will set a sound foundation for the lenders' exploration of e-commerce.