Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China, the world's second-largest insurer by market value, is to launch a mobile financial services platform, according to the Global Times. The Chinese newspaper based its story on a report on the Chinese-language site finance.sina.com.

The Yiqianbao platform will feature online payments and social networking services and will be accessible via a website and an app due for launch on Jan. 16.

The beta version of Yiqianbao has been available on Apple's App Store since late November, allowing users to exchange texts, pictures, voice messages and money as well as pay online bills, reports Global Times. It has not yet been released on the Android store.

So far, only three banks have connected to the app — Ping An Bank, China Construction Bank and China Everbright Bank — although the app will support more banks in the future. This compares with China's e-commerce leader, Alibaba, which has partnerships with more than 180 banks in China and abroad, and its Alipay payment service with a user base of 100 million, the Global Times points out.

Learn more about bill payment and money transfer/P2P.