Spending money has never been easier in China’s mobile finance era
February 4, 2014 Leave a comment
Spending money has never been easier in China’s mobile finance era
Staff Reporter
2014-02-04
A Yu E Bao advertisement reading, “Use it anytime.” (Internet photo)
The era of internet financial services began in China in 2013, which has since provided the average member of the public easier access to financial tools and products, reports the Chinese-language Securities Times.
In terms of financial products, there are already several options in the market, and more new investments tools are expected to emerge this year that will offer investors more choices.
Besides investment products available through web portals, including Baidu and Netease, there are also independent decentralized sites such as Yu E Bao, introduced in 2013 by Alibaba Group’s Alipay. Products from web portals usually require investors to park their fund for a certain period of time for a stable return, while products such as Yu E Bao allow investors to receive the money on the same day when they apply for redemption.
Several shopping sites have followed in Alibaba’s steps and launched their own products allowing users to invest value in their accounts in financial products, such as currency funds, to provide more flexibility to investors, according to the report. Moreover, with the minimum investment being as low as 1 yuan (US$0.17), these products also help users make a profit from money previously lying idle in their account.
Peer-to-peer products are also available online, mainly through websites that broker loan deals between borrowers and potential lenders. Despite their high returns, these services come with higher risks, the report said.
Traditional financial institutes in China are positioning themselves in the online market, either with products similar to Yu E Bao or with plans to set up e-commerce operations. China UnionPay, for example, is teaming up with web portal Sina for credit card payments. This will give users of Weibo, China’s largest social microblogging site, access to online and mobile payment services, the newspaper said.
Firms are utilizing sales and discounts to incentivize users to use their programs for mobile transactions. WeChat is one of the pioneers, offering heavy discounts daily to its users on a number of goods, while taxi-booking apps subsidize users for their rides, the newspaper said.
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