The People's Bank of China, China's Central Bank, has suspended virtual credit card services and payments via code scanning, including mobile QR code payments, reported Chinese state press agency Xinhua.

The PBoC has issued a notice to suspend Tencent and Alipay's virtual credit cards and payments by scanning a bar code or QR code, Zhou Jinhuang, the Central Bank's vice director of the payment and settlement department, said.

The PBoC directive followed the announcement on March 11 by China CITIC Bank that it planned to partner with Alipay, owned by Chinese online marketplace Alibaba, and Tencent, a Chinese portal company, to issue virtual credit card-based QR code payments. Alipay cards were to appear on China CITIC Bank's mobile wallet app.

The directive also bans financial institutions from setting up accounts on third-party payment platforms, including Tenpay, which is owned by Tencent and Alipay.

Zhou said that, while PBoC is always supportive of innovation in the finance sector, payments via code scanning and virtual credit cards are closely linked to consumers' personal information, and therefore require further consideration.

The PBoC may also have been acting to protect UnionPay, the Chinese state-owned payment system that processes most of the country's debit and credit cards, the Financial Times said. UnionPay does not receive revenue from transactions made via QR codes and mobile phones.

Shares of Shanghai-listed China CITIC Bank and Hong Kong-listed Tencent fell on the news of the mobile payments ban, Xinhua reported.