????2015年伊始，中國股市一路高歌，周一上證指數繼續大漲3.6%。

????但在喧囂的金融市場之外，一些正在發生的事情可能更為重要：民營資本開始開設銀行，這將為這個世界第二大經濟體開啟重要的全新企業融資渠道。

????由互聯網巨頭騰訊控股有限公司投資的純互聯網銀行——深圳前海微眾銀行于新年假期期間開始營業，這是中國銀行監管部門批準的首批6家民營銀行中的第一家。

????當局希望這些新的民營銀行能增強市場在社會主義經濟中的作用，這是2013年十二屆全國人大會議做出的重要政策承諾。也正是在這次會議上，習近平當選中國國家主席，李克強當選國務院總理。隨著中國大規模制造出口的傳統經濟模式失去動力，保持經濟增長比以往任何時候都更為重要。

????據新華社報道，李克強總理親自到深圳參加了微眾銀行的開業儀式，這足以凸顯當局對于這些新型銀行的重視。

????中國的銀行業一直由大型國有銀行主導，這些銀行的貸款主要流向效率低下的國有企業。由于中國央行對存款利率設有上限，這些銀行將貸款利率控制在較低水平（但去年年底為了幫助這些銀行，存款利率限制有所放寬）。

????相比之下，更具活力的中小企業往往只能向規模龐大卻缺乏監管的“影子銀行”體系尋求資金?！坝白鱼y行”為存款人提供更高的回報，但缺少保障。

????由于目前大型銀行面臨不良貸款水平上升，其新增放貸能力受到限制，使得中小企業獲得貸款尤為艱難。

????隨著新一代銀行的出現，今年銀行業的面目必將發生顯著改變。除了擁有微眾銀行30%股份的騰訊，阿里巴巴集團與香港上市的集團公司復星國際聯手打造的一家互聯網銀行也獲得了批準。

????騰訊和阿里巴巴過去都曾利用其互聯網平臺銷售類似貨幣市場基金的“影子銀行”產品。如今，在中國新推出的存款保險制度下，兩家公司都能為存款人提供更高保障，這使得它們更有能力與工商銀行、中國銀行等有政府背景的銀行爭奪存款。

????監管機構去年底宣布，50萬元以內的存款都將獲得全額賠付。

????啟動資本僅30億元的微眾銀行不可能在一夜之間對國有銀行的生存構成威脅。但是全球銀行業都在日益向移動和互聯網平臺遷移，而這些具有互聯網背景的新進入者在科技和企業文化上都擁有明顯的競爭優勢。

????最終，這將削弱中國的國有銀行，特別是那些規模較小、在房地產或采礦業敞口較高的地方和區域銀行。如何應對這一問題，將是對做出了自由市場承諾的中國政府的重要考驗。（財富中文網）

????譯者：Irene

????審稿：Vera Han

????China’s stock market may have opened 2015 with a roar, the wild rally in Shanghai continuing with a stunning 3.6% rise Monday.

????But away from the noise of financial markets, something that has the potential to be far more important is happening: the private sector is starting to open banks, opening vital new channels of finance to companies across the world’s second-largest economy.

????WeBank, an online-only bank backed by internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd TCEHY 1.53% , opened for business over the holiday, the first of six new projects approved by Chinese banking regulators.

????The authorities hope that new, privately-owned banks will play a big role in broadening the role of market forces in the Communist-ruled economy–the central policy pledge at the 12th National People’s Congress that installed Xi Jinping as president and Li Keqiang as premier in 2013. That’s more important than ever to sustaining economic growth as China’s traditional model, based on large-scale manufacturing exports, runs out of steam.

????In a sign of how much importance Beijing attaches to the new banks, Li himself attended WeBank’s opening ceremony in Shenzhen, according to the official news agency Xinhua.

????So far, China’s official banking sector has been dominated by big state-owned lenders who lend most to inefficient state-owned enterprises. They keep lending rates down by virtue of a state-controlled cap on deposit rates (albeit one that was relaxed at the end of last year in an effort to prop up the banks).

????By contrast, smaller and more dynamic companies are often forced to look for funds in a vast but weakly regulated ‘shadow banking’ sector, where savers can get higher returns but have little protection.

????Lending to small and medium-sized businesses is under particular threat at the moment as the big banks struggle with a rise in bad loans that is crimping their ability to extend new credit.

????With the arrival of the new generation of lenders, the face of the banking sector is set to change radically this year. In addition to Tencent, which owns 30% of WeBank, Alibaba Group BABA -2.51% has also gained approval for an online bank together with the Hong Kong-listed conglomerate Fosun International.

????Tencent and Alibaba have both used their online presence in the past to sell ‘shadow-banking’ products like money-market funds. Both will now be able to offer depositors the greater safety afforded by the country’s new deposit insurance scheme, making them more able to compete for deposits with government-backed giants such as ICBC and Bank of China.

????Regulators said at the end of last year that all deposits up to 500,000 yuan ($81,000) would be fully insured.

????With a start-up capital of only 3 billion yuan ($490 million), WeBank isn’t likely to pose an existential threat to the state banks overnight. However, banking across the globe is increasingly migrating to mobile and online platforms–a format where the new, internet-driven entrants have a clear competitive advantage both in technology and in business culture.

????Ultimately, that could weaken the country’s state-owned banks, especially smaller local and regional ones with high exposure to real estate or inefficient mining operations. Dealing with that kind of problem will be a major test of Beijing’s commitment to the free market.