CRI听力:Qianhai Webank in Shenzhen, China Opens for Trial Period

Webank, an online-only bank located in the southern city of Shenzhen, backed by internet giant Tencent Holdings, has opened.

For the time being, access is limited to a few select customers as Webank wants to make sure everything is working properly.

The bank is to mainly serve individual customers and small and micro-businesses.

With the arrival of the new generation of lenders, the face of the banking sector is set to change radically this year.

China's official banking sector has been dominated by big state-owned lenders who lend mostly to state-owned enterprises.

Rates are kept down through a state-controlled cap on deposit rates.

By contrast, smaller and more dynamic companies are often forced to look for funds in a vast but weakly regulated 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.

For more this, we are now joined live by Mike Bastin, Director of The China Business Centre based in London.