China's financial watchdogs hold regulatory talks with Internet platform firms

China's financial regulators on Thursday summoned 13 domestic Internet platform companies including Tencent, JD Finance and ByteDance for talks on their financial businesses.

The People's Bank of China, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange initiated the regulatory talks.

Pan Gongsheng, deputy head of the PBOC, hosted the talks.

The talks show China is stepping up its supervision of internet platform companies' financing businesses, strengthening its anti-monopoly efforts, and preventing the disorderly expansion of capital to promote the regulated, healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy.

While admitting that the internet platforms have played a vital role in improving the efficiency of financial services and lowering the trading costs, the financial regulators also pointed out problems such as unlicensed financial services, flaws in corporate governance and the unfair competitions.

The firms should locate their problems and fix them in accordance with financial laws and regulations, said the financial watchdogs, raising several requirements for rectification.

All financial activities should be put under supervision and all the financing businesses should be operated with a license, said the regulators.

The regulators also urged those firms to refocus on their payment service business, enhance their transaction transparency and break information monopoly.

The regulators said any enterprise that is found to be involved in illegal behaviors after the rectification will be punished accordingly.

The enterprises participating in the talks said that they would conduct self-inspections and formulate rectification plans.