"Many people turn to intermediaries because they feel it is too hard to get loans from banks because of their complicated formalities," An said.

So far, the highly anticipated national P2P regulations, which are expected to draw the boundary of P2P firms' practices, have yet to be announced. Both An and Shi expected the day will come soon.

Shi said an urgent problem is the P2P businesses' lack of "status" - which means, in China's context, the regulator of these firms has yet to be confirmed, causing many operational problems.

"For example, say we want to find a bank to be a third-party custodian. But banks are reluctant due to our blurred status," he said.

Despite such problems, analysts said the rise of P2P firms, along with such emerging businesses as online payments, crowd-funding and online money market funds, has reshaped the mentality of investors, borrowers and banks alike.

"We know we are trivial compared with banks. But we hope that Internet finance can stimulate a new perception among the public toward financial services, just as the stock market did 20 years ago," Shi said.

"The hope is that banks will no longer make money lying still but standing up to serve customers. And we can make money kneeling before customers."

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