On the afternoon of the 19th, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration of Market Regulation, the People's Bank of China and other nine ministries and commissions jointly issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Healthy and Sustainable Development of platform economy norms" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), proposing to amend the Anti-Monopoly Law and improve the supporting rules of the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law. At the same time, it is proposed to strengthen the supervision of the financial sector, and strictly regulate the investment of platform enterprises in financial institutions and local financial organizations. It also reiterates that platform enterprises should disconnect payment tools from other financial products improperly, and govern acts such as exclusivity or "two choices" in the payment process in accordance with the law.
Yu Baicheng, president of zero one research institute, told the financial reporter of China Net that strictly regulating the investment of platform enterprises in financial institutions and local financial organizations is more to implement the regulatory system of financial holding companies, based on the purpose of preventing financial risk supervision, it is expected that the supervision of large platform enterprises investing in financial institutions will be further tightened.
Strictly regulate platform enterprises' investment in financial institutions
In terms of improving governance rules, the Opinions propose to amend the Anti-Monopoly Law and improve the supporting rules of the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law. It is required to improve the regulatory rule system in the financial field, adhere to the financial activities into the financial supervision, and financial business must be licensed to operate.
It is worth mentioning that in April 2021, the People's Bank of China, the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the Securities Regulatory Commission, the Foreign Exchange Bureau and other financial management departments have jointly interviewed 14 network platform enterprises engaged in financial business, such as Ant Group and Tencent Group, emphasizing that all financial activities are included in financial supervision, and financial business must be licensed.
At present, most of the large platform enterprises have invested in financial institutions, especially Ant Group and Tencent Group, which include most of the financial licenses with high gold content. Specifically, Ant Group has controlled or participated in a number of licenses such as third-party payment, consumer finance, small loans, private banks, personal credit reports, insurance brokers, public funds, fund sales, financing guarantees, property insurance, commercial factoring, etc.; Tencent Holdings or participated in many licenses such as third-party payment, small loans, private banks, insurance brokers, insurance agents, fund sales, property insurance, and personal credit reporting.
The "Opinions" clearly pointed out that it is necessary to implement the regulatory system of financial holding companies, strictly review the qualifications of shareholders, strengthen penetrating supervision, and strengthen comprehensive risk management and related party transaction management. Strictly regulate platform enterprises' investment in financial institutions and local financial organizations, and urge platform enterprises and their holding and shareholding financial institutions to strictly implement capital and leverage ratio requirements.
Dr. Gao Jiaqing, a senior researcher at the China Enterprise Reform and Development Research Association, also said in an interview with China Net Finance that it is expected that the strategic investment related to the platform will be restricted in the future, and "it will not be easy to be allowed to enter." ”
According to Caixin's recent report, Tencent may split the financial technology business segment separately to meet the requirements of the financial holding group to separately accept the supervision of the central bank and anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition. According to the requirements of the Central Bank's Trial Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Financial Holding Companies, the registered capital paid up for the establishment of a financial holding company shall not be less than RMB5 billion, and shall not be less than 50% of the total registered capital of the financial institution directly controlled.
Disconnect payment instruments from improper connections to other financial products
In terms of strengthening the supervision of the financial business of Internet platform enterprises, the Opinions emphasize that it is necessary to strengthen the supervision of the payment field, disconnect the improper connection of payment instruments with other financial products, govern the exclusive or "two-choice" behavior in the payment process according to law, strengthen the supervision of the abuse of the market dominance of non-bank payment services, and study and introduce regulations on non-bank payment institutions.
Yi Gang, governor of the central bank, has publicly stated that payment institutions have penetrated into the financial field and provided a variety of financial products such as insurance, microfinance, and funds, which has increased the possibility of cross-product and cross-market contagion of financial risks; the "winner-take-all" attribute of large financial technology companies may trigger market monopolies and reduce innovation efficiency.
Shi Jianzhong, vice president and professor of China University of Political Science and Law, said that exclusivity in the field of payment is more common in the mainland digital market, which is manifested in the rejection of traditional payment methods by online payment tools and the mutual exclusion between different online payment tools. This kind of exclusivity not only causes inconvenience to consumers, but also sometimes has safety risks and disrupts the order of market competition.
Last year, the State Administration for Market Regulation imposed administrative penalties on two platform enterprises for their "two alternatives" monopolistic behavior in accordance with the law.
The "Opinions" also clearly put forward that the principles of legality, legitimacy and necessity for the collection and use of personal information should be effectively implemented, and the illegal acts of platform enterprises such as collecting personal information beyond the scope and calling up personal information beyond the scope of authority are severely cracked down. Strictly control non-essential data collection behavior, and crack down on data abuses such as black market data transactions and big data killing in accordance with laws and regulations.
(Editor-in-charge: Jin Rong)
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