China’s authorities tend to have little enthusiasm for revolution. They are quietly encouraging one, all the same. If the government has its way with financial sector reform, the winners will be the little guys. The losers, unless they can rise to the challenge, will be the incumbent banks.

Regulators are rapidly pushing reform on the financial sector. Last month, Li Keqiang, Chinese premier, hit the button on the first loan disbursed by China’s first private sector-backed online only bank, WeBank (part owned by Hong Kong-listed Tencent). Last week, Ant Financial — an affiliate of US-listed eretailer Alibaba — set up Sesame Credit Management, the first privately backed credit assessment bureau established since eight licences were granted this year.

Online peer-to-peer lending is also developing. Estimates for the size of the industry vary widely but Goldman Sachs figures suggest that sector loans grew from Rmb6bn to Rmb83bn between 2012 and 2014. Growth of