Monday, December 12, 2016

Recent Developments in China's Regulation of Digital Financial Services (Picker, Zhou, Arner & Buckley)

Colin Picker, Weihuan Zhou, Douglas Arner, Ross Buckley 
Australian Law Journal
May 2016, Vol. 90, No. 5, pp.297-300
Introduction: The growth of digital financial services (DFS) in China in the past three years has been phenomenal. China is now “one of the world’s largest DFS markets and among the most active of regulators of digital finance”. For decades, the government of China (GOC) has committed to the expansion of financial services to underserved segments, particularly small and medium sized enterprises and consumers in rural areas. The rapid rise of digital finance in China came out of the government’s endorsement of DFS as one of the most important approaches to promote financial services to previously underserved sectors. In the meantime, the digital finance boom has created serious concerns and challenges for Chinese regulators in relation to issues such as the maintenance of financial stability, the protection of consumers and efficient competition in the financial market, the prohibition of money laundering and other illegal activities. To address these issues, the GOC has taken a balanced approach whereby the promotion of digital finance will continue under a comprehensive regulatory and supervisory framework so as to ensure the sustainable development of DFS in China.

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