Definition
The development of online finance is determined by the inherent laws of the development of online economy and e-commerce, which can be analyzed from the following three aspects. A complete e-commerce activity generally includes three stages of business information, capital payment, and commodity distribution, namely, information flow, logistics, and capital flow.
In the scope of Internet Finance (ITFIN) defined by the Central Bank, Internet payment, fund sales, P2P network lending, online microfinance, crowdfunding financing and innovative Internet platforms of financial institutions belong to its ranks , Especially P2P finance, which integrates innovative technologies such as the Internet and microfinance, and financial operation models, is an innovative online financial product. It uses a safe and reliable platform to allow those with money to invest directly to find money and want to borrow. People, the platform promotes cooperation between the two parties after providing relevant condition review, safety supervision and management fees, and achieves a win-win situation for the tripartite and mutual benefit. Sohu Investment's Souyidai, China Ping An Investment's Lufax, etc. are all such product platforms. According to the "China Financial Stability Report 2014" released by the Central Bank, China's Internet finance has entered a new stage of development.
Features
Business innovation
The customer-centric nature of online finance determines its innovative features. In order to meet the needs of customers, expand market share and enhance competitiveness, online finance must carry out business innovation. This kind of innovation is happening in all fields of finance. For example, in the field of credit business, banks use search engine software on the Internet to provide customers with consumer credit, housing mortgage credit, credit card credit, and automobile consumption that suit their personal needs. Credit service: In the payment business field, the new electronic bill presentation payment business (EBPP, Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment) manages various bills (insurance bills, bills, mortgage bills, credit card bills, etc.) by integrating information systems.
In the capital market, electronic communication networks (ECNs, Electronic Communication Networks) provide a platform for market participants to directly exchange information and conduct financial transactions through computer networks. With ECNs, buyers and sellers can Computers communicate with each other to find the target of the transaction, which effectively eliminates traditional financial intermediaries such as brokers and dealers, and greatly reduces transaction costs.
Management innovation
Management innovation includes two aspects: On the one hand, financial institutions abandon the previous strategic management thinking of using the strength of a single institution to expand their business, and pay full attention to other financial institutions. The business cooperation between organizations, information technology service providers, information service providers, e-commerce websites, etc. has achieved a win-win situation in market competition. On the other hand, the internal management of online financial institutions also tends to be networked, and the vertical bureaucratic management model under the traditional business model will be replaced by a networked flat organizational structure.
Market Innovation
Due to the rapid development of network technology, the financial market itself has also begun to innovate. On the one hand, in order to meet the needs of customers for global transactions and the new competitive landscape of the online world, financial markets have begun to move towards international alliances. For example, in April 2000, the London Stock Exchange in the United Kingdom and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany announced their merger. On the other hand, due to competitive pressure, some stock exchanges are formulating strategies to transform into listed companies, because as a publicly listed company, the exchange will be able to use stock funds to interact with other exchanges and issuers in a more creative way. , Investors and market participants establish strategic partnerships and alliances.
Regulatory innovation
Due to the development of information technology, online financial supervision has two characteristics: liberalization and international cooperation: on the one hand, it used to separate operations and prevent monopoly of traditional financial supervision policies. It is replaced by a new model of market opening, business integration and institutional grouping. On the other hand, with the increasing volume of cross-border financial transactions on the Internet, a country’s financial regulatory authorities can no longer fully control its own financial market activities. Therefore, international financial supervision cooperation has become a new feature of supervision in the era of online finance.
Risk
In a sense, the rise of online finance has made the financial industry more vulnerable. The risks brought by online finance can be roughly divided into two categories: network-based The technical risks caused by information technology and the economic risks caused by the characteristics of online financial services.
The first is liquidity risk. In recent years, “third-party payment plus funds” products have emerged, such as Yu'ebao, but they also contain the risk of maturity mismatch, currency market fluctuations and the risk of massive redemptions by investors.
The second is credit risk. As online "credit brushing" and "evaluation" behaviors still exist, the authenticity and reliability of network data will be affected. In addition, the departmental Internet platform lacks long-term data accumulation, and the scientific nature of the risk measurement model has yet to be verified. Therefore, in the field of Internet finance, information asymmetry still exists. In 2013, there were more than 350 active P2P platforms, with a total annual transaction volume of more than 60 billion yuan, but there were also risky incidents where some platforms were running out of cash.
Third, reputation risk. Some Internet organizations use so-called "expected high returns" to attract consumers, launching high-yield products with risks, but they fail to truthfully expose the risks and even mislead consumers.
The fourth is the risk of information leakage. Yan Qingmin said that a major foundation of Internet finance is to conduct data mining and analysis on the basis of big data to analyze customer behavior, but at the same time it also poses a huge challenge to the protection of customer information and transaction records. Some trading platforms have not established a perfect mechanism to protect customer information.
The fifth is technical security risk, that is, IT system security risk. Because Internet finance relies on computer networks, the defects of the network system itself, management loopholes, computer viruses, hacker attacks, etc. will all cause technical security risks.
To sum up, there is no essential difference between the economic risks of online finance and traditional finance. However, because online finance is based on network information technology, this allows online finance to broaden the connotations and manifestations of traditional financial risks:
1. The security risks of the technical support system of online finance have become the basic risks of online finance;
2. Online finance has a relatively special form of technology choice risk;
3. Due to the fast transmission of online information and the freedom from time and space constraints, online finance will magnify the extent and scope of traditional financial risks.
Existing problems
The operating level is not high
First, there is no pure online financial institution, and the existing online business is not large. The existence of pure online financial institutions is one of the criteria for judging the degree of development of a country's online finance. There are no pure online financial institutions in my country. Most online services are provided through financial institutions’ own websites and web pages. The scale of business is limited, income levels are not high, and they are basically at a loss.
Second, online financial services have Obvious primary characteristics. Most of my country's online financial products and services simply "move" traditional businesses to the Internet, and regard the Internet more as a sales method or channel, ignoring the innovative potential of online financial products and services;
< p>The third is the uneven development of various online finance industries. The degree of networking of the banking and securities industries is much higher than that of the insurance and trust industries. This structural imbalance not only affects the overall advancement of the online finance industry, but may also affect the stability and healthy development of online finance.2. Failure to carry out effective unified planning
Due to the lack of macro-level overall planning for the development of my country’s online finance, various financial institutions are Going in different ways, even keeping secrets and defending each other, causes waste of information, technology, capital and deformities of internal structure, which is not only detrimental to the development of online finance, but may also bury the instability of the financial industry.
3. Legislation is lagging
First, compared with developed countries with a market economy, my country’s online financial legislation is lagging. In the 1990s, the United States promulgated laws such as the Digital Signature Act and the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act, which resolved the legality of electronic signatures and electronic payments. The United Kingdom passed the "Electronic Communications Act" implemented in May 2000, which also determined the legal status of electronic signatures and electronic certificates, clearing away obstacles to the development of online finance. Such laws in my country are extremely limited. There are only "Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Securities Entrustment", "Approval Procedures for Online Entrusted Business of Securities Companies", "Regulations on Encouraging the Use of Internet for Transactions" and other regulations, and they only involve online securities business. A small part. It was not until July 9, 2001 that the People’s Bank of China promulgated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Banking Business. The regulations of this department are too simple, with few quantitative standards, and poor operability;
Compared with a sound legal system, online financial legislation is also lagging behind. Facing the development of online finance and the advent of the era of electronic money, it is necessary to further study the modification and improvement of the current financial legislation framework, and appropriately adjust the existing supervision and regulation methods of the financial industry to play its role in regulation and protection, and promote the positive effect of online finance. Develop steadily.
4. Lack of patent awareness
As foreign financial institutions join the competition in my country’s online finance, the weakness of Chinese financial institutions is emerging. This weakness is not only a technical issue, but also There is a conscious problem. Since 1996, Citibank has applied for 19 “business method” invention patents with the State Patent Office of China. Most of these patent applications are financial services and system methods developed in line with emerging network technologies or electronic technologies. The purpose is to control the core technology of electronic banking and establish the leading position of online banking. Although China has not yet approved any of the patents it has applied for, according to the principle of “first application, first authorization” for patent applications, once China passes relevant laws to allow applications for such patents, Chinese banks will face difficulties in entering certain markets, or Paying higher royalties will either be forced to withdraw or even have to pay a fine. Even if China does not authorize such patents, Chinese banks must face Citi's patent barriers when entering the United States or other international markets. As of 2001, of the 64 U.S. patents obtained by Citibank, business method patents related to online banking accounted for 2/3. However, Chinese-funded financial institutions have no concept of patent protection for financial products, let alone formulate related patents. Patent strategy too.
5. Institutional obstacles are not conducive to deepening development
my country's strict separate operation system may reduce the risk of the entire system, but financial institutions cannot diversify themselves through diversified operations Risks, and the division of industry system has divided the business scope of various online finance industries from the beginning, weakened their development potential, and affected or even inhibited the evolution of my country's online finance. In addition, financial consumers cannot enjoy the full range of financial services brought by the "online financial supermarket", which has also caused huge losses in the utility of online finance.
The Internet Financial Corporate Social Responsibility Self-Discipline Alliance was announced at the "Outlook 2015? Internet Financial Corporate Social Responsibility Annual Summit" hosted by Xinhuanet a few days ago. At the same time, it released a white paper on the Internet Financial Corporate Social Responsibility Report.
Currently, with the development of big data, cloud computing, social networking, and communication technology, the development of Internet finance innovation in my country is showing a diversified trend. The healthy development of Internet finance requires not only innovation, but also supervision and self-discipline. In order to guide Internet finance companies to effectively fulfill their corporate social responsibilities, the summit launched the "Internet Finance Corporate Social Responsibility Self-Discipline Alliance, Internet Finance Corporate Social Responsibility Report White Paper" project. It also released the “2014 Internet Finance Online Public Opinion Ranking”, “2014 Internet Finance Online Platform User Experience Satisfaction Survey Report”, etc.
Countermeasures
1. Establish a strategy for the parallel development of traditional finance and online finance.
2. Establish a special guidance and management organization.
3. Speed up online financial legislation.
4. Cultivate compound financial talents.
5. Reform the separate management system.