Individual users are not allowed to buy products valued at more than 1,000 yuan (US$123.45) through electronic payment in a single deal to hedge against the risk of online fraud, the People's Bank of China (PBC) said on its Website.

The central bank guideline won't greatly affect the Chinese e-commerce industry as users still have multiple choices to finish their online transactions, said banks and online firms including eBay China and Alibaba.com.

Another central bank limit on electronic payment, which includes via Internet and mobile phones, imposes a maximum of 5,000 yuan for a single day transaction for individual users and 50,000 yuan for enterprise users.

"Electronic payment has become more and more common with the growing popularity of the Internet and the rapid growth of the e-commerce industry," the central bank said on its Website. "It also has brought security problems, including cyber fraud and money laundering."

The value of China's online payments reached 7.5 billion yuan last year and it is expected to peak at 60.5 billion yuan in 2007, said iResearch Inc, a Shanghai-based Internet consulting firm.

Security has remained the top concern in the sector. For example, hackers can easily access personal databases through a computer virus and worm spread on the Internet. Online auction Website users often receive suspicious e-mails to "remind" them to type user names and passwords again to update their accounts.

"The guideline is a temporary method but not a good way," said Lu Weigang, an independent Internet analyst.

Lu believed the improvement in online security awareness, and not the limit of payment amount, is the "fundamental" way to solve the problem.

Meanwhile, companies involved said their business won't be influenced by the guideline.

Taobao.com said it had already limited online payment value to 3,000 yuan, for security reason.

(Shanghai Daily November 1, 2005)