0019b91ed7d111e8552105.jpg (Photo : www.china.cn)
Top security regulators in China have been required by the State Council to hasten the creation of regulations and policies for the country's fast-rising Internet finance. The order comes to prevent any threat to the industry posed by companies showing operational risks.
Officials under the supervision of the People's Bank of China are already making progress on the guidelines for Internet finance, which are expected to be published soon, said innovative business supervision department deputy director Wang Ou from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
During his speech at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Wang said that the regulations will be focused on data security and investor qualifications.
Tencent Holdings private bank head Cao Tong said during the conference that a solid system for e-commerce such as assets security and a credit rating system should be established soon with the support of the central government.
Even with the upcoming stricter regulations, Wang noted that the country's Internet finance sector, which started with Alibaba's Alipay in 2003, is continuously growing.
Internet finance in China can boost the country's financial liquidity due to its high transparency, low financing and threshold costs. It can also connect borrowers with micro-credit loan providers while also pushing China's capital market toward development, according to Gregory Gibb, Shanghai Lujiazui International Financial Asset Exchange Co. president.
Gibb added that the country's current statistics in financial liquidity is not on the better side as two-thirds of China's $200 trillion yuan assets are non-financial assets.
According to industry analysts, banks are starting to adapt to the growing Internet finance sector as online financial services are taking over their deposit holdings. For instance, the China Guangfa Bank inked a strategic agreement with Baidu, a search engine giant, in September.
