Regulator to streamline crowd funding in China

China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) is mulling plans to regulate crowd funding, an online financing vehicle, to ward off risks, according to China Business News Monday, a move that will put the brakes on the booming Internet finance industry.

Industry insiders told the newspaper that CSRC regulations on peer-to-peer and crowd funding services are expected to be released earlier than those of the country's banking regulatory commission, as CSRC Chairman Xiao Gang has launched field investigations on the industry.

Xiao visited two Internet finance companies last week, including the Beijing Angel Crunch Financial Information Service Co Ltd, mainly an equity-based online crowd funding platform, according to the report citing an industry researcher.

Equity-based crowd funding as a fledgling business is believed to be another innovative financing tool designed to help start-ups and small businesses to gain a foothold in the capital market. And the attitude of the CSRC on that is positive, the report said.