The China Banking Regulatory Authority has mandated that all P2P lenders work with a custodian; a month after the requirement was announced, the majority of industry platforms have still not partnered with a custodian; most Chinese custodian banks do not offer P2P custodian services so the partnerships require added deliberation and communication; a number of new regulations are affecting the industry and it appears Chinese custodian banks will have a significant impact on the future of the industry given the online lenders they choose to partner with for P2P custodian services. Source
The new agreement with PICC P&C would provide Yirendai with a performance bond for certain loans originated through their marketplace; PICC P&C agreed to reimburse investors should any losses occur because of due diligence issues; Yihan Fang, CEO of Yirendai, said, "We are pleased to begin working with PICC P&C on performance bond. We believe a strong alliance between our two industry-leading companies will enable us to provide higher quality products and services to our customers to better serve the large demand for personal finance." Source
The Singapore Exchange has closed a deal with online debt and equity crowdfunding platform Crowdo with terms of the deal including support for raising small and medium enterprise (SME) awareness or capital funding availability in Singapore, information sharing and cross-referral of clients; similar deal terms were included in the Singapore Exchange and PwC deal with promotion of the Singapore startup ecosystem a central component of the deal. Source
Kreditech Russia has received Microfinance Company status from the Central Bank of Russia; the approval follows new regulation in Russia that requires the status for increased transparency in the microfinance alternative lending market; Kreditech Russia was established in 2013 and is part of Kreditech Group which was founded in 2012 and has its headquarters in Germany; in 2016, Kreditech Group reported loan origination volume of EUR 125 million ($133.58 million). Source
CreditEase has been reporting significant fintech investment from a range of fintech funds managed by the firm; it announced this week that its CreditEase Wealth Management Offshore Private Credit Fund (OPCF) was investing $30 million in OnDeck and LendingHome and that it also had plans for another Offshore Private Credit Fund (OPCF II) focused on fintech with a $200 million investment target; at LendIt USA 2017 the firm announced three new fintech investments for its CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund (CEFIF) which has $1 billion in total committed capital; it's also investing in Israeli fintech through two funds focused on tech startups in Israel. Source
Bloomberg reports on Wins Finance Holdings (WINS) which currently has an inception to date return of 3,305% and is trading at $230; the Chinese company has a small business loan and equipment leasing business; the stock is in the Nasdaq Composite and reports the index's highest 12-month return; while the Chinese stock appears to be a little known discovery, its business financials are rather abstract; Bloomberg provides details on the company including information from its public reports which began with its 2015 Nasdaq listing. Source
Fifteen employees of Jinxing Investment are on trial in Shanghai for fraudulent lending of 1.5 billion yuan (US$220 million); the employees are charged with illegally raising funds and taking investments from the public that were not used for their intended use; Ji Jianhua, the company's chief financial officer, told the court that the investments were fake and that funds were directed to personal or related accounts of president Wang Mian; the company shut down in June 2016 and Wang Mian escaped and has not been found. Source
Omise is planning a funding round through digital cryptocurrency; the blockchain digital payments startup will sell digital ether tokens with a fundraising target of up to $16 million; the fundraising will begin in May and the service plans to launch in the fourth quarter; the digital cryptocurrency fundraising represents a new funding alternative to venture capitalist investing and allows the firm to gain public participation from a broad set of stakeholders without selling equity in the company. Source
CredEX has created an intermediary peer-to-peer lending technology solution which allows banks to facilitate peer-to-peer loans; the company participated in a roundtable forum at LendIt USA 2017 with Peter Renton, founder of LendIt and Jo Ann Barefoot, former deputy comptroller of the currency and Harvard professor; in comments regarding CredEX, Peter says: "Their instant credit decisions and the robust underwriting platform they have built has allowed them to become a leading fintech company in China in a very short time. Unlike most fintech companies they are 100% app-based, they are funded by banks and they are doing more than US$1 billion in loans annually. They represent the future of lending." Source
Though fairly young, fintech in China has really taken off the last few years as Yihan Fang, CEO of Yirendai explained in her LendIt USA 2017 keynote; when compared to other industries like insurance, fintech has shown a great deal of promise; payments have become widespread, online lending is growing steadily and new technologies like blockchain have taken off; this has allowed Yirendai to help the underbanked and create a credit data infrastructure; after a few high profile fraud cases the government has started to regulate the industry closely and the number of lenders has been consolidated; Yihan is optimistic about the future, she expects to be lending $15 billion per year by 2020 and hopes to increase the average assets under management of each high net worth investor on their platform. Source