E-payment service provider Lakala eyes Shanghai listing

A Lakala Group employee shows a visitor how to use online payment functions on mobile devices at an expo in Beijing.[Photo/China Daily]

BEIJING - Lakala, a third-party payment service, wants to go public on the Shanghai bourse, the company's board chairman Sun Taoran, revealed.

The company plans to improve its corporate structure after it is listed, Sun was recently quoted by a Chinese media outlet as saying.

Third-party payment services have come a long way since they emerged more than ten years ago. It is natural that they are now exploring the capital market, Sun said.

Analysts expect the sector will see a wave of new listings in 2017 and 2018.

By the end of the third quarter of 2016, China's top three third-party payment service providers, namely Alipay, Tenpay and Lakala, accounted for more than 90 percent of market share, according to Analysis International, a Beijing-based Internet information consulting firm.