According to a recent article in the Chinese-language edition of the Wall Street Journal, Alibaba Group has obtained $8 billion in loans from nine of the world's top financial institutions - including Credit Suisse Group AG, Citigroup Inc and Deutsche Bank AG.

Why are these titans of the financial world so optimistic about Alibaba and what do they hope to achieve with these loans? These groups have never bothered much with chasing after interest on loans, so there must be something bigger at stake here.

Most likely these institutions are jockeying for position with the e-commerce juggernaut ahead of its possible initial public offering (IPO), and the credit extended is probably bait for lock-ins on Alibaba's float.

To ask another obvious question - why haven't Chinese banks provided financing to Alibaba? Although the country's banks are among the largest in the world, Alibaba's snub calls into question their strategies and perspectives vis-à-vis their foreign peers.

The author is Yu Fenghui, an economic commentator.