Starting from 65438+February 18, Internet financial platforms such as Alipay, Tencent Licaitong and Jingdong Finance have removed Internet deposit products.
The day before 65438+February 15, Sun Tianqi, director of the Financial Stability Bureau of the Central Bank, publicly voiced his opposition to Internet deposits, saying that its essence is that "driving without a license" conducts financial business, which is an illegal financial activity.
The so-called internet deposit means that banks sell deposit products through third-party internet financial platforms, and products and services are provided by banks. The platform provides information display and purchase interface of deposit products. Because of high income and low threshold, such products have become the main means for some small and medium-sized banks to absorb deposits and ease liquidity pressure.
65438+February 18, Alipay took the lead in removing all Internet deposit products from the wealth management page, and only users who have purchased before can query the previous products on the page. Ant Group responded that according to the regulatory requirements of the Internet deposit industry, the Internet deposit products on the ant platform have been removed from the shelves, which are only visible to purchasing users, and users holding products are not affected. Ant Financial will conscientiously implement relevant regulatory norms and requirements, and use scientific and technological means to better support financial institutions and serve the real economy.
65438+February 2 1, according to the incomplete statistics of China Economic Weekly, there are more than a dozen Internet financial platforms, including Tencent Licaitong, Jingdong Finance, Du Xiaoman Finance, lufax, Ctrip Finance and Tianxing Finance. , successively removed its Internet deposit products.
In the public response, platforms such as JD Finance, lufax and Du Xiaoman all mentioned the following expressions: "The regulatory authorities pay attention to the Internet depository business", "Embrace supervision, adhere to compliance management" and "respond to the relevant regulatory spirit of the Internet depository industry".
China Economic Weekly reporter noted that some platforms are still selling related products. According to industry insiders, in recent years, the supervision has repeatedly voiced the problems existing in Internet depository, which may soon usher in a new round of supervision. It is only a matter of time before other platforms remove Internet deposit products.
What are the problems with Internet deposit products?
The reporter of China Economic Weekly learned that the Internet deposit products previously sold on major platforms were mainly provided by local city commercial banks, Zhongbang Bank, baixin bank, Beijing Zhongguancun Bank, Blue Ocean Bank and other private banks. In order to absorb deposits in disguise, these deposit products not only have higher interest than offline deposits, but also have higher interest than products provided by state-owned banks on the same platform.
Taking the deposit products released by Beijing Zhongguancun Bank on Jingdong Finance as an example, the five-year deposit interest rate shown on June 5438+February 65438+September 9 is 4.875%, but the five-year executive deposit interest rate announced by official website is 4.40%.
In addition to high interest rates, some Internet deposits also have situations such as shortening the interest payment cycle, issuing interest rate coupons or cashback. The product "Xiangyun Bao 188 days" put on the shelves of your wealth Xinjiang Huihe Bank in 360 shows that the deposit term is 188 days, and the interest rate of full-term deposit is 4.50% annualized. In addition, the platform also offers a "+3%" discount. Buying Internet deposit products on Didi Financial App will also give away travel vouchers.
Central bank official: The essence is that "driving without a license" conducts financial business, which belongs to illegal financial activities.
165438+1October13rd, Sun Tianqi, director of the Financial Stability Bureau of the Central Bank, published an article entitled "Online Platform Depository: A Product Case of Digital Finance and Financial Supervision". It is mentioned in the article that in the past two years, many banks have launched deposit products on the Internet financial platform, breaking through the geographical restrictions of local corporate banks. Some local banks have been able to absorb deposits from all over the country through the internet financial platform and have become national banks in debt business. The liquidity characteristics of such deposits are also different from traditional savings deposits, and risk management and supervision should be able to keep up.
"Deposits sold through third-party Internet financial platforms are fixed-term, mainly for 3 years and 5 years. The highest interest rate for 1 year is 2.25%, the three-year interest rate is 4. 125%, and the five-year interest rate is 4.875%, which is close to or reaches the upper limit of the national self-regulatory pricing mechanism. " Sun Tianqi pointed out in the article that deposit products sold on the Internet platform will emphasize to customers in a prominent position that related products are fully guaranteed by deposit insurance within the limit of 500,000. It is suggested that no matter what type of bank, in which region, the interest rate of deposit products and deposit insurance should be fully covered. Under the guidance of "zero risk", consumers tend to choose products simply based on interest rates, which distorts the interest rate premium mechanism that should be formed according to the location, type, scale and risk of institutions.
65438+February 65438+May, at the 4th China Internet Finance Forum, Sun Tianqi once again talked about Internet deposits. Sun Tianqi pointed out that the Internet platform focuses on displaying information on deposit products and adopts marketing methods such as interest rate concessions and shopping vouchers. The essence of this model is the deposit marketing behavior of absorbing deposits through third-party intermediaries; The platform provides a purchasing interface for customers to purchase deposit products. The powerful platform further intervenes in the management of banking products and services, and restricts customers from inquiring and trading accounts and products in banks (including large banks) channels (such as online banking and mobile banking). Only allowed to operate on the Internet platform. The platform has become an online extension of bank outlet services. Such platforms do not have financial licenses for related businesses and are outside financial supervision. Essentially, "driving without a license" conducts financial business.
Sun Tianqi launched the "Sword Finger" Internet deposit product twice in a row, which is regarded by the industry as a signal that a new round of supervision is coming.
In his speech, Sun Tianqi also put forward the corresponding regulatory ideas: First, clarify the qualifications and standards for bank access. According to the bank's regulatory rating, operating conditions, capital and risk management capabilities, the business access threshold and scale ceiling should be set, especially to clarify which banks can't do this kind of business. The second is to study and introduce relevant laws and regulations for high-risk banks to absorb deposits. Third, according to the new characteristics of the new business model, improve the prudential supervision indicators and related rules. Clarify the statistical requirements for deposits on Internet platforms, appropriately improve liquidity monitoring indicators, and increase the monitoring of the dependence and concentration of deposits on Internet platforms. The fourth is to strictly regulate all kinds of behaviors involving financial products and services on digital platforms such as the Internet and APP. Internet platforms engaged in financial activities must obtain business licenses. Fifth, improve the payment rules of deposit insurance to prevent financial institutions from abusing the statutory payment standard of deposit insurance and engaging in capital price competition. Sixth, it is strictly forbidden for the platform to conduct "centralized price comparison-bidding" on the margin.
Editor | Yao Kun