China Will Be No. 1 M-Payment Market By 2015

China will have the world's largest mobile payments market by 2015, according to a report from Kapronasia, an advisory and consulting group focused not he Chinese financial tech sector.

The report, titled "Mobile Payments in China," indicated that Chinese mobile payment market is nearly doubling in size every year and is expected to be worth more than $80 billion with 441 million active users by 2015. China has already overtaken the US as the largest smartphone market in the world, according to Kapronasia. However, the company also noted that the penetration of smart phones in China is still low, as less than 10 percent of the total 900 million mobile phone users own a smartphone.

According to the report, mobile payment users in China reached 218 million at the end 2011, and is expected grow to 441 million users by the end of 2015.

"2012 will prove to be a crucial year for the mobile payments industry as Chinese authorities establish final technology standards," said Zennon Kapron, managing director of Kapronasia, in a written statement. "Firms must continue to push for innovation in both technology and business models in order to stay competitive in this rapidly growing market."

[Related: Mobile Payments Offer Opportunity to Reach the Unbanked]

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio