Faster financial reforms

Had the game-changing YU'EBAO not come from nowhere to shake up the Chinese banking sector so vehemently, Chinese policymakers may have taken more time to weigh and implement all-important financial reforms.

However, after this Internet-based financial product, created by China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba to compete for deposits with traditional banks, attracted 500 billion yuan ($82 billion) in just months, Chinese policymakers could hardly afford to wait any longer.

Although the jaw-dropping amount of deposits Yu'ebao has so far absorbed still pales in comparison with the banking sector's deposits of tens of trillions of yuan, the enthusiasm it ignited among tens of millions of small-pocket Internet users for a wealth management service, a service big banks reserve for the wealthiest of their customers, has made the country's financial reforms more imperative than ever.