In China it’s tough to make a play in a developed industry with entrenched interests and state-run giants often standing in the way of would-be new market entrants.

在中国，很难在成熟行业实现成功，因为利益集团和国有巨头常常成为有志进入市场的新来者的拦路虎。

But the government seems to be behind a recent set of moves by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. that make a part of its operations look more like a bank than e-commerce champion.

但阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)近来的一系列行动似乎得到了中国政府的撑腰。这些行动让该集团的部分业务看起来更像是银行，而不是电子商务业的领导者。

On Monday, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange released a statement confirming that Alibaba can now tap investors directly to finance its loans to small and medium enterprises that use its e-commerce platform. The approval will likely help Alibaba’s loan program grow and defray risk to investors willing to invest in a product comprised of small Alibaba loans made according to its massive data records of the behavior of businesses that use its site to do business.

周一，深圳证券交易所(Shenzhen Stock Exchange)发布公告证实，阿里巴巴现在可直接利用投资者来为它发放给其电子商务平台上中小企业的贷款融资。此举获批可能会帮助阿里巴巴贷款项目的发展，并将风险转移给愿意投资由阿里巴巴小微贷款构成的一款产品的投资者。阿里巴巴凭借有关其电子商务平台上企业行为的庞大数据记录而发放贷款。

Within the statement, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange linked the approval directly to a June meeting of China’s cabinet, known as the State Council, that called for greater access to credit for small and medium enterprises. Though the statement doesn’t say the State Council mentioned Alibaba directly, the call is one of a number of recent positive signs for the company as it seeks to use its e-commerce acumen to shake up China’s financial industry.

深圳证券交易所在公告中将审批通过一事直接与今年6月国务院的一次会议挂钩，会议提出加大对小微企业的信贷倾斜。虽然公告没有说国务院直接提到阿里巴巴，但对试图利用其在电子商务方面的专长重组中国金融业的阿里巴巴来说，国务院的号召是近期众多积极信号之一。

In June, Alibaba got verbal support from China’s securities regulator for a separate product that allows users of its online payment affiliate Alipay to deposit extra money they have stored online into a money-market fund. The comments came despite a statement from the regulator that the service wasn’t in full compliance with Chinese regulations and further paperwork would need to be filed.

今年6月，阿里巴巴的另一款产品得到了中国证券监管机构的口头支持。该产品允许阿里巴巴网上支付业务支付宝(Alipay)的客户将其支付宝账户内的多余资金存入一只货币市场基金。尽管证券监管机构发表声明称，这项服务并不完全符合相关规定，需要提交更多书面文件。

Also in June, Jack Ma, the founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant, said in an interview in the Communist Party mouthpiece newspaper, the People’s Daily, that the Internet would prove a key tool for reform of China’s financial system, which he said failed to serve 80% of the people.

中共喉舌《人民日报》也在今年6月刊登了一篇对阿里巴巴创立者马云(Jack Ma)的采访。马云说，互联网将被证明是中国金融系统改革的关键工具。他说，有80%的客户没有得到中国金融系统的服务。

Calling China’s financial regulators “excessive,” Mr. Ma added, 'it's hard for us to change history, but we could change the future. We would only have a chance 10 years later if we start to prepare now. It might be problematic that we introduce opening right now, but today's problem could become an accomplishment 10 years from now.”

马云说中国金融业监管过度，还说，我们很难改变历史，但我们可以改变未来；今天做准备，10年以后才有机会；今天我们引进开放，可能会有问题，但今天的问题就会变成10年以后的成绩。

Though the interview was marked off as opinion, it was carried out by a high-ranking reporter with the paper, underlying its import. It is also unlikely such a key figure as Mr. Ma would release such a direct criticism of the financial system without some form of high-level backing.

虽然这篇采访被归为观点类文章，但《人民日报》资深记者亲自出马进行采访整理，凸显了这篇文章的重要性。此外，像马云这样的重要人物如没有高层的某些支持，是不会直接批评金融系统的。

Given widely stated prescriptions for China’s slowing economy by economists, it also makes sense for the government to back Alibaba’s new efforts. The company said average interest on its loans to small businesses is just 6.7%, well below what smaller companies could expect to pay to borrow money through other channels. Since the company began distributing loans three years ago, it has lent out more than 100 billion yuan despite an average loan value of 40,000 yuan. The average length of Alibaba’s loans is 123 days while non-performing loans amount to just 0.87% of total loans distributed as of the second quarter, according to the company.

考虑到经济学家们针对中国经济放缓开出了广为人知的处方，政府支持阿里巴巴的新举措也是合理的。阿里巴巴说，其向小企业发放的贷款平均利率仅为6.7%，远低于小公司通过其他渠道借贷预计将支付的利率。该公司三年前开始发放贷款以来，尽管平均每笔贷款规模仅为人民币4万元，其总计已贷出人民币逾1,000亿元。据阿里巴巴透露，其发放贷款的平均期限为123天，截至今年第二季度，不良贷款仅占贷款总量的0.87%。

That means Alibaba is not only giving out cheap, short-term loans to the small businesses that have historically proven one of the most dynamic parts of China’s economy. It means the company is also doing a good job of picking which companies will pay those loans back. Given the government’s recent efforts to stamp risky underground lending that flourishes due to the lack of credit available to many smaller companies, the Alibaba solution indeed doesn’t look like a bad one at all, though of course its current scale is far too small to have a big impact on China’s economy.

这种情况意味着阿里巴巴不光是在向小企业发放低廉的短期贷款，这些小企业历来已被证明是中国经济中最具活力的一个部分。它还意味着，阿里巴巴在挑选哪些公司会偿还贷款方面成效卓著。由于众多小公司难以获得贷款，地下钱庄纷纷涌现；鉴于政府近期尝试压制高风险地下贷款的努力，阿里巴巴的解决方案其实看上去并不坏，虽然其当前规模显然还太小，难以对中国经济产生重大影响。

Nonetheless, current signs point to the government being open to the experiment. Of course if Alibaba’s efforts pick up steam in a more significant way, it may start to see more pushback from the big banks and powerful regulatory institutions that dominate the finance industry.

不过，目前的迹象显示，政府对于阿里巴巴的尝试持开放态度。当然，如果阿里巴巴举措的势头更猛，则可能会招致主导金融行业的大银行和权势监管机构的更多抵触。

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange statement said that Alibaba, in cooperation with Orient Securities Co., can issue 10 products to raise a total of 2 billion yuan to 5 billion yuan ($324 million to $809 million) over the next three years. The statement also said it was the first time such a product would be listed, calling it an “important” step, but also one with risks, which the exchange will ensure are monitored properly.

深圳证券交易所在公告中说，阿里巴巴与东方证券(Orient Securities Co.)合作，可在未来三年内发行10期产品，总计筹集人民币20亿至50亿元（3.24亿至8.09亿美元）。公告还说，这是此类产品首次挂牌，说这是一个重要举措，但也存在风险，证交所将确保风险得到适当监管。

The new product allows Alibaba to break those loans up and sell them to investors, defraying risk and potentially allowing Alibaba to increase with ease the scale of its loans. The statement also said the new products would help Alibaba better service the “real economy” by providing financial services to small businesses. Analysts often point out that China’s largest banks focus too heavily on giving loans to the country’s largest state-run enterprises and well-connected businessmen.

新产品令阿里巴巴可以将这些贷款拆分并出售给投资者，从而转移风险，并有可能令阿里巴巴得以轻易扩大贷款规模。公告还说，新产品将帮助阿里巴巴通过向小企业提供服务而更好地服务于实体经济。分析师们常常指出，中国最大的几家银行过于侧重向中国最大的国有企业以及有关系网的商人提供贷款。

On Monday, an Alibaba Group spokesperson said “these asset securitization plans will further enhance Alibaba's ability to serve small businesses and contribute to the development of China's economy by leveraging resources from different sources.”

周一，阿里巴巴集团一名发言人说，这些资产证券化计划将进一步增强阿里巴巴服务小企业的能力，并通过调节不同来源的资源对中国经济发展做出贡献。