Alipay denies credit cards rumor

Alipay, China's leading online payment firm, denied media reports Tuesday that the company would issue credit cards.

"We're now denying the rumor for the 10,000th time. We have never applied to establish a credit card firm and we will never issue credit cards. We will not establish any bank, either," Alipay, which is affiliated with Alibaba Group, said on its official Weibo Tuesday.

Business news portal caixin.com reported Monday that the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, has agreed in principle to allow Alibaba to issue credit cards to Alipay users which can be used on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms but also elsewhere.