China's online banking service supervision has entered a new stage with two new regulations from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) being put into force.

Of the two regulations, the Online Bank Service Management Measure (Measure) mainly focus on expanding the scope of supervision and upgrading the service approval. The Online Bank Safety Evaluation Guide (Guide) targets the enhancement of online bank safety and risk management.

In addition, another feature of the Measure is that mobile phone banks have been included into the range of online banking covered by the law. Analysts quoted in local media say this will be helpful for managing and supervising intra-provincicial e-banking services.

The Measure also says that the decision on whether to permit a bank to conduct e-banking service will depend on whether the bank has had a central data processing area and whether its business is nationwide.