China’s financial regulators have told some domestic banks to stop marketing so-called smart deposits, which look like high-interest term deposits but are in fact investment products, three sources told.

“Smart” deposits have been widely marketed by Chinese banks, especially smaller ones, since last year to attract deposits. But there are concerns they might violate rules for setting interest rates and could cause liquidity risks for smaller banks because they are an expensive way to attract depositors, analysts said.

Some banks were told on Wednesday to gradually reduce and clean up the outstanding amount of “smart” or “intelligent” deposits, the sources said. No specific time-frame was given for the plan.