(Yicai Global) May 10 -- Alipay, China’s biggest third-party mobile payment platform run by fintech giant Ant Group, has become the first private financial services provider to be included in the country’s pilot tests for its sovereign digital yuan.

The Alipay app, which connects 80 million vendors with 2,000 partner financial institutions and over one billion users, now appears in the central bank-backed digital wallet alongside six state-owned lenders, China Fund reported today.

Some Alipay users are also able to access an e-yuan column in the app, according to media reports.

MYBank, Hangzhou-based Ant’s online lender that backs Alipay, is the seventh commercial bank to take part in e-yuan trials, together with state-owned banks Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and Postal Savings Bank of China.

They already offer links to the payment interfaces for e-commerce platform Tmall, online grocery store Hema Fresh and food takeout platform Eleme.

A link to rival Tencent Holdings’ digital bank WEBank also appears in the national digital wallet but has yet to be activated.

Editor: Kim Taylor