Chinese regulators are tightening their grip on internet financing, after the stock market crash raised concerns about margin lending and the risk of ordinary citizens losing their savings.

中国监管机构正在收紧对互联网金融的掌控，近期股市暴跌令人担忧保证金贷款和普通公民失去自己积蓄的风险。

New guidelines, issued by the People’s Bank of China at the weekend, specify that client funds must be parked at established banks and require that online financing platforms provide

中国央行(PBoC)周末发布的新版指导意见规定，客户资金必须交由银行业金融机构存管，同时网上融资平台必须提供更好的信息披露，更经常地向客户警告风险。

better disclosure and warn customers more regularly about risk.

为进行更密切的监督，中国央行将监督网上支付，而中国银行业监督管理委员会(CBRC)将监督网上贷款和个人对个人(P2P)平台。中国证券监督管理委员会(CSRC)将负责众筹和网上基金销售。

To provide closer supervision, the central bank will oversee online payments while the China Banking Regulatory Commission will supervise online lending and peer-to-peer platforms. The China Securities Regulatory Commission will be responsible for crowdfunding and the online sales of funds.

网上贷款机构提供的炒股贷款大幅增加，曾帮助推动中国股市飙涨，截至6月中旬的12个月，上证综指(Shanghai Composite Index)上涨150%。

A sharp rise in loans for stock investments offered via online lenders helped fuel a surge in Chinese stock markets that saw the Shanghai Composite Index rise 150 per cent over the 12 months through mid-June.

随后的暴跌使中国股市蒸发了大约3万亿美元的市值，监管部门一直在竭力救市，防止出现全面崩盘，以免损害整体经济，或引发针对执政的共产党的具有破坏力的抗议。

Since the subsequent tumble that wiped some $3tn off the country’s stock markets, regulators have been struggling to shore up share prices and prevent a full-fledged rout that could hurt the broader economy or spark damaging protests against the ruling Communist party.

为督促僵化的国有银行变得更具竞争力和注重服务，监管者曾鼓励互联网企业建立网上银行和互联网融资渠道。但他们对这一新部门的疯狂增长感到措手不及。

As part of efforts to prod stodgy state-owned banks into becoming more competitive and service-orientated, regulators encouraged internet firms to set up online banking and internet financing channels. But they were taken aback at how wildly the new sector grew.

“近年来，互联网技术、信息通信技术不断取得突破，推动互联网与金融快速融合，促进了金融创新，提高了金融资源配置效率，但也存在一些问题和风险隐患，”中国央行周末在其网站上表示。它提出的问题包括一些网络平台运营商卷款潜逃。

“In recent years, China’s internet finance has developed quickly, but problems and hidden risks have cropped up,” the People’s Bank of China said on its website at the weekend. Among the problems it noted were cases in which online platform operators absconded with clients’ money.

互联网金融的快速增长、以及它在年轻和较低收入人群（这些人对风险较高的理财产品没有敞口）中享有的人气，是金融主管部门最担心的问题。

The rapid growth of internet financing and its popularity among younger and lower-income people unexposed to riskier wealth management products has financial authorities most worried.

只需轻轻划一下智能手机，普通的账户持有人就能把不到50美元的资金投入网上货币市场基金，这种基金支付的利率远高于普通储蓄账户。取款也很灵活，使得流入网络平台的资金的增减难以把握。

With just a swipe of their smartphones, ordinary account holders can put sums of less than $50 into online money market funds that pay interest rates well above those of normal savings accounts. Withdrawals are also flexible, making the ebb and flow of money into the online platforms difficult to follow.

中国互联网集团阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和对手腾讯(Tencent)在网上金融领域激烈竞争，它们为客户提供便捷的支付平台，并都在近几个月推出网上银行。截至去年第四季度末，阿里巴巴旗下成立于2013年6月的余额宝货币市场基金管理的资产从零增至5780亿元人民币（合930亿美元）。

Chinese internet group Alibaba

与此同时，旨在帮助向小企业（此类企业长期得不到正常的银行贷款）输送小微贷款的P2P放贷平台，实际上却成了向房地产或股票投资输送资金的投资产品。

and rival Tencent

上月，中国顶级富豪拥有的大连万达(Dalian Wanda)通过在线投资产品、以众筹方式为新的购物中心筹集建设资金，其在线投资产品提供12%的利率，由项目产生的租金收入提供支持。

have gone head to head in online financing, offering customers convenient payment platforms as well as launching online banks in recent months. Assets managed by Alibaba’s Yu’e Bao money market service have risen from zero to Rmb578bn ($93bn) in less than two years.

上周出台的更严格的保证金贷款规则，已促使一些之前提供灰色市场保证金贷款的在线平台退出这项业务。

Meanwhile, online peer-to-peer lending platforms designed to help funnel micro loans to the small businesses that are perennially cut off from normal bank loans instead feature investment products channelling money into real estate or stock investment.