After banning commercial banks from selling deposit products through third-party online platforms, China’s central bank further strengthened regulation of deposit products, barring regional banks from seeking deposits from clients outside their operating regions, reported Caixin.
In a video conference on Thursday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said orderly deposit market competition is a matter of public interest and the central bank will strengthen monitoring and management of nonstandard innovative deposit products to protect consumers.
Regional banks should be urged to focus on serving local customers and should not accept deposits from clients outside their regions, the central bank said, without defining nonlocal clients, reported Caixin.
The PBOC and the banking regulator issued a notice Jan. 15 formally barring banks from selling personal fixed deposit products online via third-party platforms, citing a recent surge of online deposits that exposed regulatory loopholes and financial risks.