A Conflict of ‘Interest’

来源 :Beijing Review | 被引量 : 0次 | 上传用户:q3356367
下载到本地 , 更方便阅读
声明 : 本文档内容版权归属内容提供方 , 如果您对本文有版权争议 , 可与客服联系进行内容授权或下架
论文部分内容阅读
  Ma Weihua, former President of China Merchants Bank, just experienced a new taste of novelty by depositing thousands of yuan into his newly opened Yu’ebao account. “The emerging Internet finance product quickly won my favor, because I can see how much I earn a day just by clicking on a mobile phone application,”said Ma.
  When Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce group, offered the wealth management service—Yu’ebao—in June 2013, no one expected that it would soon become a catchphrase.
  By the time traditional banks caught on to Yu’ebao, the rising star had stolen away millions of customers, and the momentum of the Internet finance shows no signs of coming to a halt. With an earnings ratio much higher than the bank deposit rate, Yu’ebao has seized a total of 81 million users with aggregate deposits totaling nearly 500 billion yuan ($81.4 billion) in China.
  “The Internet is remolding Chinese people’s lives. These days, it’s even difficult to take a cab without cellphone applications,” said Robin Li, CEO and founder of China’s search engine Baidu. “Online operation is even more suited to the financial market, since it involves no physical distribution,” said Li.
  While Internet finance has become an irresistible trend, it’s more likely to be subject to risks, because online financial transactions can take place anytime and anywhere. That’s why the government needs to step in and strengthen supervision over the industry.
  In the 2014 government work report delivered at the opening of the annual National People’s Congress session on March 5, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made it clear that the government will promote the healthy development of Internet finance, and improve the mechanism for coordinating financial oversight.
   Breaking with tradition
  All that is real is rational. Is that still the case for Internet finance? In developed economies, few Internet giants can grow into financial heavyweights, because their financial systems are quite complete with sufficient financial services supply and rapid innovation, according to Pan Gongsheng, Vice Governor of the People’s Bank of China, the nation’s central bank, who suggested Internet finance is a good supplement to traditional banking.
  Internet finance has reached out to the areas of the market which traditional banks have failed, ignored or dismissed. In the past, traditional banks could afford to move slowly by earning huge interest margins. However, the emergence of various Internet financial products has now broken the old balance.   “Internet finance has laid down a challenge to traditional banks, because interest rates have not yet been fully freed,” said Ma.
  According to statistics, the bulk of the money collected by those Internet financial products are invested in agreement depos- its with an interest rate that can be as high as 10 percent. If banks are caught in money shortages, which usually occur at the year-end when people tend to withdraw their deposits and when the central bank and China Banking Regulatory Commission set out to do checks, they would turn to these monetary funds for money to fill the gap. As more and more bank customers move their deposits to Internet financial vehicles like Yu’ebao, banks will see the money scarcity intensified.
  The banking sector is being forced to think hard about interest rate liberalization.
  Yang Kaisheng, former President of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, believed that interest rate liberalization would allow banks to decide the cost of absorbing deposits according to their assets and liabilities, capital adequacy ratio as well as development strategies.
  “If Yu’ebao still exists after interest rates for banks are liberalized, its earnings ratio will be analogous to the rate of demand deposits,” said Yang.
  Moreover, Internet finance has spilled over into almost all sectors, not just the banking realm.
  “With high interest rates, Internet financial products have pulled a significant strand of customers into transferring deposits from their saving accounts. That will substantially increase the financing cost for enterprises,” argued Liu Liehong, President of China Electronics Corp., a sentiment echoed by Cao Dewang, Chairman of Fuyao Glass Industry Group, who worried that higher lending rates would cause the growth of China’s manufacturing industry to stumble.


  Nonetheless, Zhang Xiaoji with the Development Research Center of the State Council believes Internet finance needs support from the manufacturing sector. “If there is no producer, how can Taobao vendors keep their businesses running? The market will end up striking a balance between the two.”
  Pan said that people should not set Internet finance against the real economy, as the former can expand funds supply to small and microsized businesses, diversify financing channels, improve transaction efficiency, and reduce trade costs.
   Supervision imperative   Wealth management products like Yu’ebao and Licaitong, a similar product launched by China’s Internet giant Tencent, are just one sort of Internet finance, an area which also comprises Internet payment, peer-topeer lending, micro-loans, crowd funding, online marketing of insurance and fund products, etc.
  Some Internet financial companies had dabbled in the fields that exceeded their capacity of risk management and control, which would breed an array of financial dangers, warned Yan Bingzhu, Chairman of Bank of Beijing.
  “The government should reinforce the legislation for Internet finance, and make clear the rights and duties of trade subjects, requirements for market access, and the standards of transaction behavior,” said Yan.“Efforts should also be made in ensuring fair trade, establishing the credit system, and protecting consumer rights.”
  Pan also held that the supervision of Internet banking needs to be further upgrad- ed and standardized. “Different approaches should be taken to tackle different Internet financial products. Supervision should be reinforced for products with high risks and be moderately reduced for those that have already become full-fledged. Meanwhile, different oversight departments should be coordinated to supervise financial products,”said Pan.
  In addition, market-oriented reforms, such as relaxing price regulation in the traditional financial sector, should be pushed forward, while market access should be expanded to admit more micro-sized financial institutions and private capital into the financial market, said Pan.
其他文献
On March 3, when this year’s full session of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body, started in Beijing, the city
期刊
China’s economic growth slipped to 7.4 percent in the first quarter, signaling more downward pressure for the world’s second largest economy. However, authorities have ruled out the possibility of maj
期刊
The Second Session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC)—held in Beijing from March 5 to 13—is seen as a test of the sincerity of the Chinese Government in honoring its commitment to reform. Mo
期刊
Some breakthroughs have been achieved in the transformation of government functions involved in delegating power to lower levels. The transformation of market supervision, however, has made little pro
期刊
The just concluded lianghui, or two sessions, of China—the Second Session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Second Session of the 12th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Confer
期刊
The State Council, the country’s cabinet, released the National New-Type Urbanization Plan (2014-20) on March 16, indicating that China’s “new-type” urbanization, after years of discussion, has been o
期刊
Private automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd. confirmed on March 3 the acquisition of British electric start-up company Emerald Automotive after a year of negotiations, promising investment
期刊
The Seventh Session of the 12th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) ratified a decision on February 27 to set a National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims. What is the s
期刊
A section of the Yarlung Zangbo River flows peacefully in the valley not far from the Gongga Airport of Lhasa City, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. One can hardly imagine that it will turn into a
期刊
Charity in China has been put under scrutiny again after a recent investigation by Zhou Xiaoyun, a netizen famous for exposing scandals in the field.  From January to February, Zhou posted several mes
期刊