时间：2022-09-13 12:01:36
The First Transac-tion
On January 4， China’s Premier Li Keqiang launched a new era for the country’s online private banking by ceremonially pressing the button to finalize a 35000 yuan loan issued to Xu Jun， a Shenzhen truck driver.
Just in case， when we talk about private banking in this context， it doesn’t refer to private banking in terms of wealth management， but banks that are 100% separate from the government and owned by private entities， which in China is very rare.
Li’s gesture on behalf of Shenzhen Qianhai WeBank， a new online bank and one of the five privately funded banks specially approved in China， was the inaugural transaction for the country’s first no-bricks， no-mortar， 24-hour， online-only bank.
As part of the financial reform， the Chinese government is letting more private capital into the banking sector， and online-only banking that focuses on lending to blue collar workers and small business owners is a primary trend of it.
Regulators approved WeBank， which is affiliated with the WeChat social messaging app operated by Tencent Holdings Ltd.， in December， 2014. Ac-cording to a source close to the matter， the next-in-line for inauguration is Zhejiang Internet Commerce Bank （ZICB）， which is controlled by Ant Financial Services Group， an affiliate of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba.
During a visit to Qianhai Webank， Premier Li Keqiang said he placed high hopes on online competition in the banking sector to cut costs and force State-owned financial giants to change outdated business models.
“Internet-based banking is a significant step of China’s financial reform，”Li said， stressing that the government will provide a good environment for the development of private and online banks.
How Does it Work
WeBank and ZICB plan to use new， Internet-linked data mining tools to assess loan applicants. Various online platforms， such as the WeChat app with 600 million-users， will be used to collect information about a potential client’s financial behavior and credit history to help loan officers work out a credit rating.
Xu Jun， the Shenzhen trucker and receiver of WeBank’s first loan， was selected for the inaugural loan based on data provided by a Tencent-invested logistics platform called Huochebang， or Truck Club.
According to the agreement， Xu will pay off the principal and interest at an annual rate of 7.5% in six months. Gu Min， chairman of WeBank， said the 7.5% interest rate is a result of analysis that included the client’s gender， age， education， marital status and social net- work.
Huochebang’s app links logistics providers with truck driver companies that need to ship cargo. As of September， its platforms were serving 167000 logistics customers and nearly 1 million drivers with 650000 trucks.
Some drivers have to borrow money to pay in advance for the freight they’re hauling， said a Huochebang staffer. WeBank can thus fill a need by lending small amounts to drivers who might not be eligible for bank loans to fill their special needs.
Huochebang has a large data bank that contains information about each club-member trucker， such as total travel distances， what kinds of orders they’ve handled and cargo volumes， the source said. "WeBank uses this data about driver operations and makes a credit rating based on financial models，" he said.
Today’s traditional banks also use online data services， but they are mainly tied to paper-based ways of assessing a customer who applies for a loan.
With a huge amount of personal data that is registered with effective identity certificates on Tencent’s social networking platforms， WeBank is working to comply with and adjust rules governing credit risk control.
WeBank has recruited about 450 staff members， but more than 60% of them are on the technology side， said Gu. The bank will be based on the internet and have no physical branches， which can reduce operational costs to 10% of the industrial average and cut lending costs.
According to Gu Min， WeBank aims to cover 30 million small businesses and 300 million individual consumers in the upcoming decade.
In 2014， five banks entirely funded by private capital were given the green light by authorities in China. Previously， China Minsheng Bank， founded in 1996 in Beijing， was the country’s sole national privately funded bank.
Tencent Holdings， which operates China’s most popular online chatting service， is the largest shareholder of WeBank. Other major shareholders include Shenzhen Baiyeyuan Investment and Shenzhen Liye Group.
The bank， registered in the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone， is also expected to expand the service in the liberalization of the renminbi with neighboring Hong Kong.
Jonathan Woetzel， a researcher at Shanghai-based McKinsey Global Institute， said that emerging technology companies have the advantages of agility and deep technical talent， and they are quickly building the financial capabilities to compete head-to-head with traditional financial institutions. He believes that a better allocation of capital to SOEs could add 1 to 2 percentage points to China’s overall GDP growth， creating up to 11 million jobs.
Much to Do
However， since these banks are still negotiating their legal limits and business models with government regulators， WeBank and ZICB haven’t fully disclose their plans for future financial services yet. It’s not clear， for example， when or even if the firms will offer ba-sic bank deposit accounts to individuals.
In fact， WeBank has no timetable for launching financial products whatsoever so far， although its formal business startup is set for April 18. A WeBank employee said： "Many products are still being tested and will be launched after tests have been completed. But no timetable has yet been set."
The only certainty is that these banks are ready to extend credit to a generally underserved client base， such as the Shenzhen trucker and owners of small companies.
WeBank Chairman Gu Min said the bank will function as an online platform and is "not a show-stopper" for the financial sector. And WeBank to date has no plans to lend to government agencies， big companies or the wealthy.
"A customer base that is too big would create a capital burden for WeBank，" said a source at the bank. "We are positioning to be a light-asset bank."
Nevertheless， according to a source， WeBank and ZICB are in talks with state-owned China Postal Savings Bank（PSB） about starting credit card businesses. PSB has 39000 branches nation- wide and a strong presence in China’s rural areas.
WeBank is also looking at partnering with established banks to offer wealth management and low-risk investment products. WeBank’s contributions to a joint venture could include an online platform， rating services and risk control for these products.
Overall， Internet banking is being embraced as a new avenue for financial system reform in China. Current business models are， for example， pushing forward work on new regulatory standards， said WeBank President Cao Tong.
"We need to redefine the scope and models for financial supervision of the Internet" due to the wide gap between online and traditional banking business models， Cao said.
A government official said that regulatory agencies are working on rules and guidelines for Internet bank accounts， especially how to securely handle electronically transmitted contracts and signatures.
Wang Yonghong， director of the central bank’s technology department， recently wrote in a financial journal backed by the central bank that Internet banks would have to meet traditional requirements， such as capital adequacy ratios， provisioning and leverage ratios. However， he wrote， special characteristics of this new business would be written into updated rules.
"Internet banks will have a profound impact on China’s banking sector， as well as on the supervision model，" Wang predicted.
Welcome， Innovations！
The biggest beneficiaries of the new private online banks will likely be Chinese customers themselves. Alibaba has already changed the way people shop and use mobile and online payments， could they be poised to do the same for banking？
Face recognition technology and data mining were used to assess the Shenzhen trucker’s creditworthiness before he got the loan from WeBank. He did not have to put up collateral and agreed to a 7.5% interest rate. He is the kind of customer that WeBank wants.
Gu， the chairman of WeBank， said the bank is aiming for a customer base that includes young urbanites， blue-collar workers and small businesses， many of whom may not be eligible for loans through traditional banks.
About 500 million low- and middleincome Chinese do not have credit records， and thus might be hard-pressed to qualify for traditional bank loans， according to the central bank.
A WeBank source said a survey of one company’s young employees C all born in the 1990s C would be interested in borrowing about 50000 yuan every year. But they’re able to borrow only about 5% of what they want from banks. "This is a huge market，" said a WeBank source. "We need to find out how to reach it."
One way might be through a We-Bank product called WeCash， which would offer small loans quickly to select customers. Meanwhile， ZICB is getting help from Alibaba to connect the bank to Alipay， which has about 300 million users. These users may use the service to pay for movies， restaurant meals， hotels and taxis.
Tencent is luring businesses to connect with its WeChat users. The company hopes to make WeChat a plat- form for accessing all kinds of services， including financing and payments.
Internet companies are closer to the services needed by customers， and that’s their advantage" over traditional banks， said an online banking expert at a state-run bank. "Internet banks will serve customers who have higher potential for cash flow in the future. Traditional banks are eyeing on high-wealth customers， but this group will shrink in the future."
Another business channel for Internet banks involved credit-data sharing. On January 5， the central bank gave eight companies including Tencent and Ant permission to pursue personal credit data businesses. These companies are likely to be the first to run commercial operations that collect and analyze individual and business credit data， most of which is now controlled by the central bank.