Online lending platform Crowd Genie has obtained regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore; launched in mid-2016 the platform seeks to match accredited investors with SMEs for a fast and efficient alternative loan financing solution; the firm has been focusing on back office processing to meet regulatory guidelines and is now planning to increase its lending with the new regulatory approval. Source
At a financial forum in Shanghai, Jack Ma of Alibaba expressed his support for fintech innovation in digital banking that could further help China's inclusive finance efforts; the holding company founder's comments were centered around the capabilities of its affiliate Ant Financial, which offers a range of digital banking services; Jack Ma said capabilities from the platform could help other fintech firms to increase their financial inclusion business efforts; "We would like to entirely share with partners our capability of data collection and data processing to jointly develop the inclusive financial system," said Jack Ma; as a proponent for financial inclusion and fintech industry growth Jack Ma also said Ant Financial was a leading fintech market platform capable of partnering with other fintech companies for overall industry expansion. Source
Chinese conglomerate HNA has reported it will buy a 25% stake in Old Mutual's US asset management unit; HNA will pay approximately $445 million; following the sale, Old Mutual will own 26% of the US asset management business, a decrease from 51%; Old Mutual is expected to also sell the remaining portion of the company with a number of offers from strategic buyers and private equity groups; HNA has been increasingly adding financial services companies to its portfolio with recent acquisitions including Deutsche Bank and Anthony Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital. Source
The Asian Banker has awarded CreditEase Wealth Management with its first Best Non-Bank Private Wealth Product award; the award was part of the Asian Banker's awards program which has been recognizing financial services companies for 16 years; voting was done by an advisory board using detailed criteria to identify the non-bank with the best solutions for meeting the needs of high net worth customers by matching their risk profiles and investment objectives; CreditEase's CEO Ning Tang said its wealth planners focus on cross-border, cross-regional portfolios with multi-asset classes for clients and that its Toumi RA robo advisor service was created to help clients evaluate and minimize risks with a scientific portfolio. Source
China has developed a new Chinese village called Yuhuang Shannan which it has designed for the hedge fund community; a quiet village an hour from Shanghai offers a newly designed community tailored to the hedge fund industry with local office space, an elementary and an after work club for financiers; the number of hedge funds has been increasing in China and 1,000 hedge funds and private equity funds are registered in the village with assets under management of approximately 580 billion yuan ($84 billion); it's likely that hedge funds could become more prevalent in China and the village is receiving ongoing support from the government which currently includes a 30% tax bill subsidy. Source
Credit China Fintech is forming a consortium to acquire a 36.58% equity interest in Ping An Securities Group (Holdings) Limited; upon completion the consortium intends to make a cash offer for all of the issued shares of Ping An Securities; Credit China Fintech's CEO Phang Yew Kiat says, "Ping An Securities' product offerings are valuable resources that we believe will generate significant synergies with our existing businesses." Source
HNA Group has a diverse portfolio of investments in a wide range of industries spanning from hotels to electronics and airlines; the Chinese-based company has now reported significant investment in the financial services industry with recent deals focused on the SkyBridge hedge fund platform, New Zealand lender UDC Finance and a 3% stake in Deutsche Bank; the investments from HNA follow encouragement by Beijing in global investments; they also reflect China's growing middle class and the expected demand for broadened investment options among Chinese consumers. Source
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Reports continue to show Chinese investors increasingly investing in bitcoin as the yuan devalues; over 90% of bitcoin trading has been reported by Chinese investors and the cryptocurrency's price is showing close correlation with the value of the yuan; Chinese regulation limiting foreign investment to $50,000 per year in order to stabilize the currency appears to be a factor as wealthy Chinese investors use bitcoin investment to evade the regulation since it is considered a borderless investment; while China appears to be a driving force for the currency's gains, experts also believe improved trading efficiencies and solutions for bitcoin are also factors for its recent appreciation. Source
Recently, local governments in China have launched pilot programs for foreign investments; Qualified Domestic Limited Partner (QDLP) was launched in 2013 in Shanghai which has since expanded to other cities; the Qualified Domestic Investment Enterprises (QDIE) launched in Shenzhen; both require a formation of an onshore fund in one of the pilot cities; Mondaq outlines more details of these programs including differences of the programs and other requirements in their recent article. Source