China to Debut Regulations for Exclusively Online Banks, Facilitate Platform Development by Foreign Lenders

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China’s financial authorities are currently in the process of finalising the country’s first ever regulations on exclusively online banking operations, according to sources who spoke to Reuters.

The new regulations will cover the exclusively online banks that have already emerged in China’s financial sector following a push from domestic tech giants, including Tencent-backed WeBank, Baidu-backed aiBank, and Alibaba-backed MYBank.

The sources said that the new regulations have the goal of minimising risk, as well as making the sector more appealing to foreign players by allowing overseas banks that are already present in China, such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citigroup, to establish their own online banking platforms.

According to one of the sources the new rules will allow foreign banks in China to enter partnerships with tech companies for the development of such platforms.

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