Assets of fund management platform Yu'E Bao top $16.4 b

Managed assets of Yu E Bao, the fund management platform under Alipay, the country's largest third-party payment platform, have passed 100 billion yuan ($16.4 billion), the company said on Friday.

The money market fund has become the nation's largest public fund to top 100 billion yuan and ranks 51st globally, according to a company notice on its official micro blog.

Alipay users are entitled to directly invest cash from their Alipay account into a money market fund managed by Tianhong Asset Management Co, which promises higher returns than those offered by banks and provides much more flexibility.

The fund gained momentum when Alipay's parent, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, acquired 51 percent of Tianhong in October.

Alibaba Group, through Alipay, is introducing a variety of financial services to complement its e-commerce business. Besides Alipay, which provides users with an online payment system, the Hangzhou-based company has also started fund and insurance sales, as well as small loan financing.