Wealth products to be sold online

Wealth management products will soon be sold through online payment platforms, China's securities watchdog said on Friday.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission is in talks with Alibaba Group's affiliate Alipay - a provider of online payment services - to work out the details to link investors' asset management accounts with payment accounts under the regulations of the country's central bank.

The top securities regulator is determined to encourage the development of the country's wealth management industry.

On Friday, the regulator released a draft regulation to loosen market access requirements for fund managers, to match the new Equity Investment Fund Law, which will take effect on June 1.

The draft removed the requirement for the paid-in capital of joint venture fund management companies' foreign institutional shareholders, which was previously 300 million yuan ($48.31 million).

The requirement is now a minimum net assets of 200 million yuan or the equivalent in foreign currency, the CSRC said.

"There are no third-party e-commerce platform companies registered so far with the CSRC, which is a necessary procedure before selling the online wealth management products," an official from the commission said.

According to the regulation, any online wealth management product sellers should apply for the financial licenses as a general fund management company, and they are also required to follow special legislation, to control risks.

"Other financial institutions, including commercial banks and insurance companies, that apply for fund management licenses, will be supervised together with the traditional fund management companies," according to the CSRC official.

The draft says that fund management companies can now make plans to allow employees to hold the companies' own shares, in order to build incentive and restriction mechanisms.

Some administrative licenses to limit fund management companies from applying for initial public offerings will be canceled, the CSRC official said.

Meanwhile, the commission announced that eight listed companies are being investigated, including Xi'an Longi Silicon Materials Corp, Kingsun Optoelectronic Co Ltd and Tibet Tianlu Co Ltd, for breaking information release rules.

The companies' sponsor institutions - Minsheng Securities Co Ltd and Nanjing Securities Co Ltd - are also being investigated.

All the IPOs that those two securities companies have applied to sponsor have been suspended, the CSRC said.