VeChain, Viseo and Microsoft have launched a blockchain proof of concept project for the French car maker Renault; the idea is that blockchain can be used to keep record of how a car is maintained and that information from various car service providers can build a trustworthy growth history of a car; auto giants like Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Porsche have tried blockchain projects before as well. Source (Chinese)
Dianrong has obtained $220 million from a Series D funding round; this latest funding was led by GIC Private Limited (Singapore's sovereign wealth fund), CMIG Leasing, and Simone Investment Managers, among others. Source
Hongling Capital Monday had a press conference after the company announced to close its online lending business last week; Hongling Capital will be "upgraded" to Hongling Holding, and the latter will focus on industry finance, investment banking, asset management and wealth management, Hongling Chairman Zhou Shiping said in the press conference. Source (Chinese)
On July 15-16, 2017 we hosted the annual Lang Di Fintech conference. Lang Di is the largest and most prestigious...
There is a belief in China that Fintech is going to be larger than E-Commerce and the race is for...
Tencent, with advantages in cloud computing, big data, social networking, and mobile payments, will cooperate with China Development Bank to provide students loans; China Development Bank is a "policy financial institute" under the State Council; the bank covers over 90% of the student loans market. Source (Chinese)
At LendIt's Lang Di Fintech conference this July in Shanghai, Up Financial CEO Steven Yuan talked about the power of big data and artificial intelligence for the economy; he calls this intelligent finance and believes that using these tools will allow for investing to come to the masses; he also thinks that the tools can help to lift up the broader economy; he points to a report by Boston Consulting Group about China's private investable assets in the next three years and believes there is an enormous opportunity to leverage wealth management; Up Financial's goal is to create a personalized new financial system for individual investors and big data plus artificial intelligence will allow for them to potentially reach these goals. Source
For the second quarter, Yirendai reported revenue of $174.5 million, beating estimates by $16.36 million and increasing revenue 58% from the second quarter of 2016; earnings per share remained steady at $0.66 and beat earnings estimates by $0.04; the company reported loans originated of $1.2 billion in the second quarter, an increase of 80% in comparison to the second quarter of 2016. Source
[Editor’s Note: This is a post from Sherry Zhang who is the latest member of the Lend Academy and LendIt...
China's online brokerage market for retail investors is growing rapidly; Barron's suggests investment in China's Huatai Securities (6886.HK) which is one of the online brokerage market's best positioned companies; the firm is China's largest brokerage by trading volume and offers low commission rates; its business is also diversified with its wealth management unit increasing assets under management by 44% in 2016; Barron's cautions investors on the firm's earnings, with comparable net profit down 44% in the first three quarters however analysts are expecting an earnings increase of 21% in 2017. Source