An investigation regarding fraudulent fundraising from Chinese peer-to-peer lender, Ezubao, has been underway since February 2016; regulators have reported all of the fundraising projects on the site were fraudulent and that the firm collected $7.6 billion from approximately 900,000 investors; Chinese regulators have recovered $1.5 billion in assets which include real estate, jewelry, stocks, cars and helicopters bought for company executives of the parent company Yucheng Group. Source
Alibaba-backed Ant Financial sold $578 million worth of securities backed against small loans granted to consumers on "Double 11" day, the festival to celebrate singlehood and the world's largest online shopping day; Chongqing Alibaba Small Loan provided the underlying loans for the asset-backed security through an online consumer credit portal, Ant Check Later ("Huabei" in Chinese); the Shanghai Stock Exchange approved the offering and allowed it to be privately placed last Monday to qualified institutional investors. Source
Loose credit and consumers who are no longer averse to loans have contributed to the rise in household debt as a share of GDP; numbers have risen from 28% to 40% in the last five years; the share of household loans to overall lending hit 67.5% in the third quarter of 2016, more than twice the share of the year before; China's household debt as a share of GDP is half of what it is in the US, though if the current pace continues it will come close to equaling the US percentage in a few short years. Source
With demonetization in full swing, Capital Float has expanded their loan offerings to include businesses with card machines; the new program will allow vendors to take out a loan of up to 200% of their sales; loans will then be paid back based on a small fee from each transaction; the company expects a surge in loans based upon the new government program to remove large cash notes. Source
Prime Minister Modi's plan to demonetize has put a lot of strain on much of Indian society, now the ICICI Bank is looking to ease that burden by helping to make 100 villages cashless in 100 days; the plan was born out of a successful program that made one village cashless in 2015; the 100 villages will be spread throughout the country and will help 10,000 people overall; local people will be able to use their mobile phones to transact with merchants and banks. Source
The central bank of Indonesia has opened a fintech office; the central bank will use the fintech office to maintain its regulatory oversight while also providing support for new fintech startups; it plans to collect information on the industry for regulatory development; it will also facilitate the development of fintech companies and their introduction to the economy both in Indonesia and globally. Source
On November 14 to 18 Singapore held its first Fintech Festival providing S$1.15 million to ten fintech firms; supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Association of Banks in Singapore, awards were given ranging from S$250,000 to S$50,000; the top prize of S$250,000 for the MAS FinTech Awards (Singapore Open) was given to fastacash Pte Ltd; the Fintech Festival follows significant expansion in Singapore which now has the largest fintech hub in the world and numerous subsidies available to attract fintech startup companies. 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
Southern Cross Financial is seeking to take advantage of New Zealand's expanding real estate supply with challenges in traditional mortgage lending; on December 1, the firm will become a P2P mortgage lender, evolving from a mortgage brokerage business; the firm has been arranging loans between alternative credit consumers and approximately 150 investors as a mortgage broker; the new P2P structure will provide a more standardized process for borrowers and investors. Source
SRS Fin Tech Labs has announced the launch of a new marketplace lending platform in India called OxyLoans; firm seeks to originate $1 billion in loans by 2024; loans will be available in India, GCC and the UK; rates on loans will range from 12% to 36% with loans up to Rs 4 lakh (approximately $5,890). Source
