Baidu Inc. Chief Executive Robin Li has joined the chorus of Chinese government advisers and banking executives calling for more regulation of the country's quickly growing Internet finance industry.
百度(Baidu Inc.)首席执行长李彦宏加入了中国政府顾问和银行业管理人士的行列,呼吁加强对国内快速增长的互联网金融行业的监管。
Speaking at a meeting of an advisory body to China's parliament on Monday, Mr. Li said he saw the potential risk in the sale of finance products by Internet companies, and that government oversight should be strengthened.
李彦宏周一在全国政协会议上表示,他认为互联网企业销售金融产品潜藏风险,政府应加强对此的监督。
'People in the Internet industry are not financial experts,' Mr. Li said on the sidelines of the meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, according to the Xinhua News Agency. A Baidu spokesman on Tuesday confirmed the comments.
据新华社报道,李彦宏在参加政协会议的间隙表示,互联网从业者都不是金融专家。百度的一位发言人周二证实了上述说法。
The comments came as officials weigh the growing popularity of investment funds sold over the Internet. On Tuesday, People's Bank of China Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan said the central bank wouldn't 'crack down' on the products, but will improve regulations in the sector, according to Xinhua.
在此之前,已有多名政府官员就互联网上出售的投资产品日益受到欢迎发表了看法。据新华社称,中国央行行长周小川周二表示,央行不会取缔此类产品,但会完善相关监管政策。
Chinese regulators are looking at creating tighter regulations for the products, people familiar with the matter have told The Wall Street Journal. At the same time, these people say, they don't want to squelch innovative products that could shake up the country's sluggish financial system, which many economists say does a poor job serving smaller businesses and individuals.
知情人士此前向《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)透露,中国监管部门正考虑为互联网金融产品制定更严格的监管规定,但同时也不希望过分打击可能改变金融系统格局的创新产品。许多经济学家批评国内金融系统在服务小型企业和个人方面做得比较糟糕。
Baidu's Mr. Li said the company is marketing financial products created and administrated by third parties, not products the search giant has created itself, 'since we don't have the license or other [financial] abilities. This brings risk,' he said, according to Xinhua.
新华社的报道称,李彦宏表示,百度目前做到的只是金融营销层面,对金融产品的创新,既没有牌照,也没有能力。他说,这将带来风险。
Since last summer, China's largest Internet companies, led by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., have begun selling money market-like funds directly online. The funds offer returns far above traditional savings accounts in China by investing in interbank loans and deposits as well as bonds. Alibaba didn't respond to a request for comment.
从去年夏天开始,以阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)为首的中国互联网巨头开始在线直销货币市场类基金产品。这些产品通过投资银行间贷款、存款以及债券向客户提供远高于中国传统存款帐户的回报率。阿里巴巴没有回复置评请求。
The ease of use for Chinese investors and the widespread advertising capabilities have led Chinese to pour billions of yuan into the funds. The most popular Alibaba product, Yu'E Bao, as of last month had attracted more than 400 billion yuan ($65.4 billion) and had about 81 million user accounts. Baidu hasn't disclosed the amounts it has sold.
凭藉简单好用的特性和强大的营销实力,这些基金产品吸引了数以亿计的人民币资金。截至上月,最受欢迎的阿里巴巴余额宝已吸引到人民币4,000亿元以上(654亿美元)资本,拥有约8,100万个用户帐号。百度未透露其售出的具体规模。
China's state-dominated banking sector has complained that the new products could drain money from the banking system. In just nine months, Alibaba's Yu'E Bao has already attracted the equivalent of roughly 0.5% of the country's 74.2 trillion yuan worth of deposits. A report issued last week by brokerage China International Capital Corp. projects that in three years products like Yu'E Bao could manage funds comparable to 8% of bank deposits.
以国有银行为主体的中国银行业对此感到不满,担心此类新产品会把资金从银行系统抽走。仅仅九个月,余额宝的资金量就已相当于中国74.2万亿元人民币存款的0.5%。中国国际金融有限公司(China International Capital co.)在上周发布的报告中预测,三年后,类似余额宝这样的产品管理的资金规模将相当于银行存款的8%。
Echoing Mr. Li's sentiments at the meeting, a former president of the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Yang Kaisheng, said both online and offline financial services should be subject to the 'same regulatory supervision.'
中国工商银行原行长杨凯生在会上支持了李彦宏的观点。他说,线上和线下金融服务应遵守统一的监管规则。
The China Banking Association said in a report last week that money-market funds--like those marketed by Internet firms--should set aside reserves to meet liquidity shortages, making them more like banks and potentially denting their profitability.
中国银行业协会(China Banking Assocation)在上周发布报告中称,货币市场基金(例如由互联网公司销售的基金)应留出准备金以应对流动性短缺风险。此举将使货币市场基金与银行类似,将降低货币市场基金的回报率。
A former adviser to China's central bank, Li Daokui, said at the same event that Yu'E Bao and similar funds should allocate additional capital to protect against risks. Internet firms say they can make use of past records of online spending to predict when their users are likely to take money out of online accounts.
原央行货币政策委员会委员李稻葵在会上称,余额宝等基金产品应留出额外资金用于防范风险。互联网公司则表示,通过研究用户过去的网上消费记录,它们可以预测用户何时可能将资金从在线帐户中提走。
Some bank analysts and economists say Internet firms won't find the data much help if China's economy slows rapidly, since China hasn't been through a recession in 30 years. If companies are unable to predict a large-scale withdrawal, investors in the funds could face significant losses as assets would have to be sold at low prices to generate liquidity for the money-market funds, they said.
但一些银行分析师和经济学家指出,如果中国经济大幅放缓,这些记录不会给互联网公司带来多大帮助,因为中国已经有30年没有经历过经济衰退。他们同时说,如果公司无法提前预料到大规模提款的发生,购买相关基金的投资者就可能面临巨大损失,因为公司会被迫低价抛售资产来为货币市场基金提供流动性。