百度CEO呼籲加強對互聯網金融的監管

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.)首席執行長李彥宏加入了中國政府顧問和銀行業管理人士的行列，呼籲加強對國內快速增長的互聯網金融行業的監管。

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.

李彥宏週一在全國政協會議上表示，他認爲互聯網企業銷售金融產品潛藏風險，政府應加強對此的監督。

'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.

據新華社報道，李彥宏在參加政協會議的間隙表示，互聯網從業者都不是金融專家。百度的一位發言人週二證實了上述說法。

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，已有多名政府官員就互聯網上出售的投資產品日益受到歡迎發表了看法。據新華社稱，中國央行行長周小川週二表示，央行不會取締此類產品，但會完善相關監管政策。

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《華爾街日報》(Wall Street Journal)透露，中國監管部門正考慮爲互聯網金融產品制定更嚴格的監管規定，但同時也不希望過分打擊可能改變金融系統格局的創新產品。許多經濟學家批評國內金融系統在服務小型企業和個人方面做得比較糟糕。

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.

新華社的報道稱，李彥宏表示，百度目前做到的只是金融營銷層面，對金融產品的創新，既沒有牌照，也沒有能力。他說，這將帶來風險。

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.

從去年夏天開始，以阿里巴巴集團(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)爲首的中國互聯網巨頭開始在線直銷貨幣市場類基金產品。這些產品通過投資銀行間貸款、存款以及債券向客戶提供遠高於中國傳統存款帳戶的回報率。阿里巴巴沒有回覆置評請求。

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.

憑藉簡單好用的特性和強大的營銷實力，這些基金產品吸引了數以億計的人民幣資金。截至上月，最受歡迎的阿里巴巴餘額寶已吸引到人民幣4,000億元以上（654億美元）資本，擁有約8,100萬個用戶帳號。百度未透露其售出的具體規模。

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.

以國有銀行爲主體的中國銀行業對此感到不滿，擔心此類新產品會把資金從銀行系統抽走。僅僅九個月，餘額寶的資金量就已相當於中國74.2萬億元人民幣存款的0.5%。中國國際金融有限公司(China International Capital co.)在上週發佈的報告中預測，三年後，類似餘額寶這樣的產品管理的資金規模將相當於銀行存款的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.'

中國工商銀行原行長楊凱生在會上支持了李彥宏的觀點。他說，線上和線下金融服務應遵守統一的監管規則。

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.

中國銀行業協會(China Banking Assocation)在上週發佈報告中稱，貨幣市場基金（例如由互聯網公司銷售的基金）應留出準備金以應對流動性短缺風險。此舉將使貨幣市場基金與銀行類似，將降低貨幣市場基金的回報率。

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.

原央行貨幣政策委員會委員李稻葵在會上稱，餘額寶等基金產品應留出額外資金用於防範風險。互聯網公司則表示，通過研究用戶過去的網上消費記錄，它們可以預測用戶何時可能將資金從在線帳戶中提走。

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.

但一些銀行分析師和經濟學家指出，如果中國經濟大幅放緩，這些記錄不會給互聯網公司帶來多大幫助，因爲中國已經有30年沒有經歷過經濟衰退。他們同時說，如果公司無法提前預料到大規模提款的發生，購買相關基金的投資者就可能面臨巨大損失，因爲公司會被迫低價拋售資產來爲貨幣市場基金提供流動性。