Peer to Peer Lending

Bridging the gap between China’s shadow banking and traditional banking sectors, CreditEase is an online lending and investment platform that represents the increasing importance of the Chinese fintech industry. The firm was started in 2006 by CEO Ning Tang, who attended the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing and worked on Wall Street prior to founding his company. Sara Hsu met ... Read More »

Credit China FinTech Holdings Ltd is planning more investments as it aggressively expands beyond its original loans and lease-financing businesses into online payments and peer-to-peer lending. The company, part of a consortium that offered to buy a stake in Ping An Securities Group Holdings Ltd last month, is in talks with “multiple” financial-services companies based in Asia outside China, said ... Read More »

Nine out of 10 of the mainland’s peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms will struggle to survive this year as the government rolls out tightened regulatory supervisions, according to a multi-agency report recently led by the Beijing Bureau of Financial Work.  About 500 P2P companies, out of the total 4,856 players across the nation, are likely to maintain their operations this year, ... Read More »

Equifax UK has been appointed by new P2P lending platform Flender to support the underwriting of loans for UK SMEs. Equifax will supply real-time consumer and commercial data so that the underwriting process can be automated and optimised.  The data insight, provided via the Equifax Business Insights solution, will give a holistic view of SME loan applicants, providing Flender with ... Read More »

Shine Consultants hosted the 2nd China Internet Finance Credit Reporting Forum 2016.  The event was attended by a wide range of industry players from the commercial banking industry, P2P lending, consumer finance, credit bureaus, risk prevention and big data companies.  The event was co-hosted by the Shanghai Credit Services Trade Association. For the second time BIIA was a supporting organization ... Read More »

Lufax, one of China’s largest peer to peer lending platforms, has announced plans to expand into both Hong Kong and Singapore. This news comes less than two months after the lender announced preparations for its Hong Kong Listing and IPO. Lufax Chairman and CEO, Gregory Gibb, reportedly stated the lender’s IPO could be next year’s largest. He shared:“We’ve been looking ... Read More »

China recently pledged to improve supervision over the online finance market, including peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms, to reduce risks and support healthy development of the sector.  A policy document released by the State Council, China’s cabinet, tasked various government agencies with working to contain internet finance risks, improve the competitive environment and boost investors’ risk awareness. Internet finance refers to deposits, ... Read More »

Yirendai Ltd. (NYSE: YRD), a leading online consumer finance marketplace in China and a subsidiary of CreditEase, has been elected as one of the inaugural member companies of the Internet Financial Industry Information Sharing Platform (IFIISP) on September 9 in Beijing. IFIISP was launched by China Internet Finance Association (CIFA) and aimed to track credit information in the industry, enabling ... Read More »

First five companies licensed to offer stored value facilities in Hong Kong The Monetary Authority of Hong Kong, which is the de facto central bank, granted on August 25th the first batch of licences to five stored-value service providers in a landmark move to regulate the city’s rapidly expanding electronic payment business. The five licence holders picked out of 20 ... Read More »

China issued a regulation on this week to toughen its control of peer-to-peer lending companies, thus cracking down on illegal fundraising activities through such platforms and preventing financial risks. Jointly issued by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) and three other ministries, the regulation emphasizes the role of P2P lending companies as financial information service intermediaries providing assessment and exchange ... Read More »

In light of the LendingClub scandal we find FICO’s discussion about the ‘unintended consequences’ most appropriate.  Here is what FICO had to say about this subject: “Last month the President of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank addressed the LendIt USA conference here in San Francisco. He talked about “unintended consequences” and the role regulators play in protecting wider economic interests. “I ... Read More »

Changes in loan application dates, ineffective internal control systems and conflict of interest got CEO Laplanche fired.  Business model now in peril. LendingClub, which was seen until last week as the gold standard in FinTech startups, had its shares plunging 51 percent last week after the surprise departure of Chairman and CEO Renaud Laplanche and the disclosure of faulty internal ... Read More »

China’s online peer-to peer (P2P) lending platforms are losing their shine as regulators have tightened supervision to prevent risks.  Only four P2P firms were established last month, down from 12 in February, and the number of platforms still in operation had dropped for four consecutive months to 2,572 as of March, according to a research note of Yinhang.com, a financial ... Read More »

MoneySQ and Bridgeway form Hong Kong’s first crowdfunding platform for professional investors.  Information power will be delivered by TransUnion. MoneySQ, a peer-to-peer lending company in Hong Kong has partnered with an asset management firm to create what they claim is the city’s first investment platform designed for professional investors. MoneySQ.com formed an allegiance with Bridgeway Prime Shop Fund Management Ltd ... Read More »