Alibaba’s financial affiliate company launched its internet bank yesterday, with executives pledging to use the Chinese ecommerce group’s treasure trove of customer data to target lending to small businesses.
中国电商集团阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的金融附属公司昨日推出互联网银行。高管们承诺利用阿里巴巴的海量客户数据，面向中小企业提供贷款。

MYBank, owned by Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group, an Alibaba affiliate business, holds one of six new banking licences granted to privately owned companies under a pilot scheme aimed at diversifying China’s financial system. Small firms have long complained of difficulty in obtaining bank loans from state-owned banks, which tend to favour larger state-owned companies.
网商银行(MYBank)的母公司为阿里巴巴的附属公司——浙江蚂蚁小微金融服务集团有限公司（Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group，简称“蚂蚁金服”）。蚂蚁金服是中国6家获得新的银行牌照的民营企业之一。授予民企银行牌照是旨在推动中国金融体系多元化的一个试点项目的一部分。长期以来，中小企业抱怨很难从国有银行获得贷款，后者倾向于偏爱大型国有企业。
“Answering to the needs of those who have limited access to financial services in China is our mission,” said Eric Jing, MYBank’s executive chairman. “MYBank is here to give affordable loans for small and micro enterprises. We are here to provide banking services, not for the rich, but for the little guys.”MYBank’s launch follows the setting up of internet lender WeBank in January — a joint venture led by Alibaba’s rival,
“我们的使命是满足中国那些只能获得有限金融服务的企业或个人的需求，”网商银行执行董事长井贤栋(Eric Jing)表示，“网商银行的创立是为了向小微企业提供可负担的贷款。我们的目的是向小人物而不是富人提供银行服务。”
Tencent, the online gaming and social media group. But questions remain about the feasibility of an online-only business model for Chinese banking.
在今年1月，中国已成立了一家互联网银行微众银行(WeBank)，该行是一家合资企业，最大股东是阿里巴巴的对手、在线游戏和社交媒体集团腾讯(Tencent)。但在中国银行业，纯线上模式的可行性仍存在一些问题。
Current regulations require customers to appear in person at a bank to open an account. In March, however, 21st Century Business Herald reported that the Chinese central bank was drafting new rules that would allow for online-only account openings. Large banks are advocating stricter rules, while smaller banks and online players want a looser regime, the paper reported.
当前的监管规定要求客户必须亲自前往银行开户。然而，《21世纪经济报道》今年3月曾报道，中国央行正在草拟允许网上开户的新规则。据该报报道，大型银行呼吁收紧规则，而中小银行和互联网企业则希望实行更宽松的监管制度。
Mr Jing said that the company’s facial-recognition technology, which could allow for identity verification via the internet, is “very mature”, although he was unsure when, or if, regulators would approve its use. He also sought to downplay the importance of deposit taking.
井贤栋表示，网商银行的人脸识别技术——理论上可用来通过互联网进行身份验证——是“非常成熟的”，尽管他不确定，监管部门何时（或者是否）将批准使用该技术。他也寻求淡化吸收存款的重要性。