Investment products to be part of Nov 11 online event

Taobao, China's leading online marketplace, will for the first time team up with fund companies for its Nov 11 online shopping festival, offering fund products that are expected to give high returns.

Taobao has already created a vertical site specially designed to sell fund products in what it calls its "Double 11" promotion. The company said in a press release that more than 100 fund products are expected to be launched as part of the festival, which is now in its fifth year.

Both China Guangfa Bank and Guohua Life are expected to launch fund products, which can have yields up to 7 percent annually for depositors.

Observers say Taobao's shopping festival effort is one more attempt to boost sales of fund products on its site.

The company recently opened a vertical site called Licai (which means finance management in English) to offer shoppers a convenient way to buy fund products.

Taobao is the first Internet company to offer such services in China after receiving a no-objection letter from the government's securities regulator at the end of October.