Chinese Online Banks Boast Over 400,000 ClientsAccording to statistics of People's Bank of China (PBOC), over 200 branches of 20-plus banks have their own websites and homepages and more than 50 of them have opened substantive online banking business with well over 400,000 clients.Security First Network Bank, the first online bank in the world, was born in the United States in late 1995. By the end of 1999, the largest stock underwriter of US Merrill Lynch announced its provision of overall online service to investors. In five short years, network banks had experienced rapid development. Statistics of the US Federal Reserve show that the network banks have accounted for 12 percent of all US banks and deposit institutions. Europe currently has over 100 online banks, of which one-third handle their depositing business through the Internet. Online banks in the Asian-Pacific region also have more than 4 million clients. As the forerunner of Chinese network bank, China Merchants Bank (CMB), had drawn in 20,000 clients by this May and registered a business volume of 1 trillion yuan. About 95 percent of e-commerce websites in China's inland are making payments with "All in One Net" of CMB. Governor of PBOC Dai Xianglong has indicated on different occasions that online bank is the product of integration of financial innovation with technological innovation, it is not simply transplanting existing banking business online. Approached from the angle of the central bank, online finance has not only provided the present financial institutions with a new marketing channel for products and service, but also raised the question of how to create financial products, develop financial service and establish financial enterprises in a dummy environment. By PD Online Staff Deng Gang |
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