This undated photo shows a market in Handan, North China's Hebei province, where a consumer scans QR codes to pay for vegetables. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING - Non-cash payments handled by Chinese banks continued steady growth in the third quarter of 2023, data from the central bank showed.

Non-cash payments via bank cards, electronic payment vehicles, commercial papers, credit transfers, and other settlements hit 1326.19 trillion yuan (about $186.91 trillion) during the period, up 3.92 percent year on year, according to a report from the People's Bank of China.

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Electronic payments took the lion's share of non-cash payments, with a total transaction value of 858.34 trillion yuan, said the report.

A closer look at data for electronic payment vehicles showed that mobile payments expanded 10.1 percent compared with the same period last year to 137.71 trillion yuan.

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Bank card transactions also went up in the third quarter, increasing by 1.74 percent year on year to 260.77 trillion yuan, the data revealed.