PBOC to Regulate Online Finance

张舒婷

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.

中国人民银行整顿网上金融

中国人民政治协商会议全国委员会委员周一表示，央行可能宣布截止到年中，将会出台覆盖迅速发展的互联网金融行业规则。

一位匿名政协委员，获悉相关讨论之后说“央行已安排涉及银行，保险和证券监管部门的多次会议。”

法规对行业的发展是至关重要的，据清华大学教授，前央行顾问李稻葵介绍“互联网融资产品必须有储备，并且需要特定的法规和对客户的保护”。

据中国银行业监督管理委员会上海办事处处长廖岷称，“针对发展迅速的行业建立降低风险的法规是很重要的。”

据天弘基金管理有限公司副总经理周小明称，余额宝存款是一个很受欢迎的网上融资产品，自1月15日上线以来收益就达到了2500亿元人民币，2月14日增至4000亿人民币，折合656亿美元。

余额宝是天弘与互联网巨头阿里巴巴合作成立的。廖岷说，互联网金融公司相关法规应该与传统金融行业保持一致，例如审慎监管要求，信息披露以及客户保护要求等。

他补充说，依据国际惯例，在与客户和网上融资机构之间建立一个明确而有效的争端解决机制也是必不可少的。

中国保险监督管理委员会副主席李克穆表示，将逐渐向网上保险公司签发更多的许可证。

目前，只有一个网上保险公司。依全国政协委员李克穆称，但监管机构会慢慢放宽市场准入。

据保险机构发布的报告称，截至去年年底，中国60家保险公司已经扩展至网上销售渠道，比两年前上涨了46%。