China’s largest online peer-to-peer lender, Lufax, is seeking $1bn in new funding at a valuation of $15bn-$20bn, as growth continues to surge across the internet finance sector.

中国互联网金融行业继续保持快速增长的节奏。作为国内最大的个人对个人(P2P)网贷平台，陆金所(Lufax)正在寻求10亿美元的新融资，这将使其估值达到150亿至200亿美元。

If successful, the funding would underline the rapid growth of the sector this year. In April, Lufax raised $500m at a $10bn valuation.

如果陆金所成功完成此轮融资，将可凸显出该行业今年以来增长有多快。该公司刚在4月融资5亿美元，公司估值在当时达到100亿美元。

Online banking and P2P lending has developed rapidly in China amid a push by Beijing to expand financing for consumers and small businesses. Upwards of 2,000 companies operate in China’s P2P lending milieu.

在政府鼓励扩大对消费者和小企业融资的背景下，中国网上银行及P2P贷款行业迅速发展。目前中国P2P贷款领域有超过2000家公司。

Lufax is the largest, a subsidiary of China’s Ping An Insurance, which is Lufax’s largest shareholder.

陆金所是最大的一家。它是中国平安保险(Ping An Insurance)的子公司，平安也是陆金所最大的股东。

Others are Ouyeel, a unit of Shanghai Baosteel Group that provides financing for steel traders; and Small Entrepreneur, part of China Merchants Bank — the country’s sixth-largest lender — which focuses on wealth management.

其他机构有宝钢集团(Shanghai Baosteel Group)旗下为钢材交易商提供融资的欧冶云商(Ouyeel)、中国第六大银行招商银行(China Merchants Bank)旗下专注财富管理领域的小企业e家(Small Entrepreneur)等。

P2P lending has grown quickly in the past two years, with loans outstanding reaching Rmb209bn by the end of June, according to E-Lending House.

近两年P2P贷款行业迅速发展。根据E-Lending House，截至6月底，该行业未清偿贷款达2090亿元人民币。

In addition to the growth in P2P lending, a number of online banks and lenders have been created this year — such as Tencent’s Webank, Alibaba’s Mybank and Ant Financial’s Sesame Credit.

除了P2P贷款领域发展迅速以外，今年还涌现出一些网络银行和贷款机构——比如腾讯(Tencent)的微众银行(WeBank)、阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的网商银行(Mybank)，以及蚂蚁金融(Ant Financial)的芝麻贷(Sesame Credit)。

The government is keen to encourage lending to small and medium-sized borrowers, many of whom do not have credit histories. Analysts estimate the number of Chinese consumers who are financially active but without access to credit to be 500m.

中国政府鼓励向中小规模的借款人放贷，其中很多贷款者没有信用纪录。分析师预计，在金融上表现活跃但没有信贷渠道的中国消费者有5亿之多。

Lufax, which started four years ago has emerged as the leader due to innovative credit rating techniques.

凭借创新性的信用评级技术，4年前创办的陆金所已经发展成为行业的领头羊。

In P2P lending, borrowers are matched with investors, who are encouraged to put their money into the loans due to higher returns than they could get at state banks.

在P2P贷款领域，借款方被与投资者匹配，后者被鼓励将钱投入放贷，因为他们所得到的回报高于国有银行利息。

However, the state is also wary of the fast growth in online finance, which is largely unregulated and the risks of systemic crises may be high. Since 2007, 370 P2P lending platforms have failed in China, of which 270 failed in the past year, according to research by Morgan Stanley and Wangdaizhijia, a Chinese research group.

然而，国家也很警惕网络金融的快速发展，该领域基本不受监管，发生系统性危机的风险可能会很高。据摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和中国研究机构“网贷之家”的调查显示，自2007年以来，中国有370家P2P贷款平台倒闭，其中270家是在过去的一年中倒闭的。

In July, the government made the first stab at regulating internet finance when 10 agencies, including the central bank, the banking regulator and the securities regulator jointly issued guidelines that provide an official definition of “internet finance” and specify which agencies are responsible for regulating which types of internet financial institutions.

7月，中国政府首次尝试规范互联网金融，央行、银监会、证监会等10家机构联合发布指导意见，提出了“互联网金融”的官方定义，并明确了各机构负责监管的互联网金融机构类型。

Estimates for the size of the industry vary but Goldman Sachs figures suggest that sector loans grew from Rmb6bn to Rmb83bn between 2012 and 2014.

对于该行业规模有多大，众说纷纭，但高盛(Goldman Sachs)的数据表明，在2012至2014年期间，该行业的贷款规模从60亿元人民币增长至830亿元。