New rules for online financial products

Regulator aims to tighten up risk, govern sales amid rapid growth

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said on Friday it will draw up special regulations governing online sales of financial instruments and mandating tighter risk controls for money market funds.

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Zhang Xiaojun, a spokesman for the agency, told a news conference that regulators have taken note of the fast growth of Yu'ebao, an investment service offered by Tian Hong Asset Management and online payments provider Alipay (a division of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd).

Zhang reiterated that these online funds are an innovation that helps promote interest rate liberalization and the rapid development of the Internet.

"Yu'ebao is a convenient account value-added service, and it is a hybrid innovation of the third-party payment business and money market fund products," Zhang said.

In the business model of Yu'ebao, Alipay is neither involved in specific fund sales nor the investment processes.

It only introduces clients to fund products through the broad Internet platform.

China's money market funds have exhibited sound and accelerating development, which can help satisfy the financing needs of small and medium-scale investors, according to the CSRC.

In addition, the financial innovation can help improve the capital structure of the fund industry and raise the proportion of direct financing.

"But we have also noticed some illegal promotion and advertising activities by fund management companies.

"Some of them don't fully disclose potential risks to investors and some don't have quality risk management systems," said the spokesman.

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