China Merchants Tuopu Bank (招商拓扑银行) will be only the second direct bank with independent legal person status to get the go-ahead. Its approval comes almost four years after China Citic Bank Corp. and search engine Baidu Inc. were given the green light for their joint venture, AiBank in January 2017. CMB announced its plan the following month. Direct banks have no physical branches and offer services only over the internet or telephone.