PBOC to Regulate Online Finance

張舒婷

The central bank is likely to announce rules covering the fast-growing Internet finance sector by midyear， a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference said Monday.

“The central bank has arranged several meetings involving banking， insurance and securities regulators，” said the anonymous CPPCC member， who has knowledge of the discussions.

Regulations are crucial for the industry's development， according to Li Daokui， a Tsinghua University professor and former central bank adviser. “There must be reserves for Internet financing products， and specific regulations and customer protections are needed.”

According to Liao Min， director-general of the China Banking Regulatory Commission's Shanghai Office， it's important that the regulations reduce risks connected with the rapidly growing sector.

Deposits with Yu'ebao， a popular online financing product， hit 400 billion yuan（$65.6 billion）on Feb 14， up from 250 billion yuan on Jan 15， according to Zhou Xiaoming， vice-general manager of Tianhong Asset Management Co.

Yu'ebao was formed through a partnership between Tianhong and the Internet giant Alibaba Group.

Regulations for online financial companies should be in line with those of the traditional financing industry， such as prudential supervisory requirements， information disclosure and customer protection requirements， Liao said.

He added that establishing a clear and efficient dispute resolution mechanism in line with international practices between customers and online financing entities is also essential.

Li Kemu， vice-chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission， said that more licenses will be gradually granted to online insurance companies.

At present， there is only one online insurance company. But regulators will slowly ease access to the market， according to Li， a member of CPPCC.

As of the end of last year， 60 insurance firms in China had expanded to online sales channels， up 46 percent from two years earlier， according to a report by the insurance regulator.

中國人民銀行整頓網上金融

中國人民政治協商會議全國委員會委員周一表示，央行可能宣布截止到年中，將會出臺覆蓋迅速發展的互聯網金融行業規則。

一位匿名政協委員，獲悉相關討論之后說“央行已安排涉及銀行，保險和證券監管部門的多次會議。”

法規對行業的發展是至關重要的，據清華大學教授，前央行顧問李稻葵介紹“互聯網融資產品必須有儲備，并且需要特定的法規和對客戶的保護”。

據中國銀行業監督管理委員會上海辦事處處長廖岷稱，“針對發展迅速的行業建立降低風險的法規是很重要的。”

據天弘基金管理有限公司副總經理周小明稱，余額寶存款是一個很受歡迎的網上融資產品，自1月15日上線以來收益就達到了2500億元人民幣，2月14日增至4000億人民幣，折合656億美元。

余額寶是天弘與互聯網巨頭阿里巴巴合作成立的。廖岷說，互聯網金融公司相關法規應該與傳統金融行業保持一致，例如審慎監管要求，信息披露以及客戶保護要求等。

他補充說，依據國際慣例，在與客戶和網上融資機構之間建立一個明確而有效的爭端解決機制也是必不可少的。

中國保險監督管理委員會副主席李克穆表示，將逐漸向網上保險公司簽發更多的許可證。

目前，只有一個網上保險公司。依全國政協委員李克穆稱，但監管機構會慢慢放寬市場準入。

據保險機構發布的報告稱，截至去年年底，中國60家保險公司已經擴展至網上銷售渠道，比兩年前上漲了46%。