Jack Ma: P2P lending is not internet finance, only illegal fund-raising on web pages( 二 )_

According to Ma, internet finance distinguishes itself from traditional finance by its power to serve more SMEs. It resembles a kind of drip irrigation technology in the sense that it empowers small individual enterprises to survive and grow.

Internet finance is impossible without a powerful credit system and a reliable risk-management system, both of which function on a strong database. "From its first days, P2P lending was just illegal fundraising platforms running on web pages. It is unreasonable to blame the whole of internet finance for each problem we meet."

Ma also agreed that finance depends on continual improvement to achieve maturity, as does technology. He rejected any definite link between improvement and risk, and warned of the possible dangers posed by improper, inappropriate or backward supervision.

Regarding the establishment of statistics bureaus required by many Chinese local authorities, Ma warned that we must guard against an inefficient scenario of too many documents, but too few policies. "The difference between a document and a policy should be noticed. While documents generally set limits and restrictions on people that prevent them from doing things, policies can encourage them to take action and push for new developments."