China set to add another 'cashless' city

A little girl receives gifts from Alipay staff in Tianjin. [Photo/VCG]

Tech giant Alibaba's financial arm, Ant Financial, has clinched an agreement with Tianjin municipality, vowing to transform the latter into the first "cashless" city in North China.

Under the plan, citizens of the coastal city will be able to pay for an array of fees with their mobiles by the end of this year, ranging from bus fare and medical bills to school tuition and social security, China Economic Times reported on Wednesday.

The city-wide "cashless" campaign is the fourth, as a similar plan first kicked off in Hangzhou, Alibaba's headquarters, followed by Wuhan and Fuzhou.

Ant Financial was a leading sponsor of a cashless alliance set up in April. The company earlier vowed to make mobile payment accessible in the whole country in the coming five years.

A cashless campaign doesn't mean to eradicate cash, but to allow customers to decide on the way of payment, Jing Xiaodong, the company's CEO, said.

Tianjin has a good foundation for Internet Plus to make it the first cashless city in the north, Jiang said.

Of the city's resident population of 155 million, 69 million are real-name registered Alipay users, according to China Economic Times. The city ranks 10th nationwide by mobile payment activities.