Non-cash payments handled by Chinese banks continued stable expansion in the first quarter of the year, data from the central bank showed on Tuesday.

Non-cash payments via bank cards, electronic payment vehicles, commercial papers, credit transfers and other settlements hit 1,277.53 trillion yuan (about 178.44 trillion U.S. dollars) during the period, up 11.1 percent year on year, according to a report from the People's Bank of China.

Electronic payments took the lion's share of non-cash payments, with a total transaction value of 831.82 trillion yuan, the report shows.

Among the electronic payment vehicles, mobile payments climbed 9.9 percent from the same period last year to 144.6 trillion yuan.

In the first quarter, bank card transactions also went up 10.57 percent year on year to 292.9 trillion yuan, according to the report.