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After our visits with Jimubox and Lufax the LendIt China tour geared up for the next conference in Shanghai. We co-hosted...
Marketplace lender, China Rapid Finance, has now surpassed the one million mark in terms of borrowers; they are considered the largest consumer lender in China in terms of loans facilitated; the company has lent out 8.8 million individual loans since inception and believes their focus on emerging middle-class mobile active consumers, or EMMAs, sets them apart; the EMMA population typically has no credit history and is estimated at around 500 million people in China, the world's largest untapped consumer credit market. Source
China Rapid Finance currently has 1.2 million borrowers on its platform and is seeking to triple its users; it recently received $70 million in funding which will help to support the growth; also wants to increase its users to 10 million over the next two to three years; the firm says it is well positioned to manage new regulations from the Chinese government and it is developing its platform to more broadly target the needs of the country's 500 million residents. Source
Crowdfund Insider provides a roundup of news occurring in China's alternative finance market; the China Banking Regulatory Commission has released more details on its guidance for online lending partnerships with custody banks; also noteworthy is the potential initial public offering in the US by China Rapid Finance. Source
The partnership with Sino Guarantee will provide lending capital of RMB 500 million to China Rapid Finance also helping the marketplace lender to develop and offer lending products on wealth management platforms; Bank of Shanghai will also provide capital support as well as payment channels and fund custody services. Source
P2P lender China Rapid Finance has announced a partnership with Tencent's wealth management group, Licaitong; China Rapid Finance will list investments on the Licaitong platform; the product listings will include fixed-term investments ranging from nine months to 18 months with expected annualized returns ranging from 4.65% to 6.19%; the investment products reached capacity of RMB 27 million ($3.89 million) within two hours of the launch; China Rapid Finance will continue to offer investments through the Licaitong partnership; in a statement regarding the partnership, Dr. Zang Wang, CEO of China Rapid Finance, said, "This collaboration between CRF and Tencent's Licaitong platform will support the development of inclusive finance in China." Source
Zane Wang concluded the LendIt USA keynote speeches with a presentation on China Rapid Finance's business growth in China; the firm's online lending business has grown steadily as a leading provider of online loans for consumers; Wang discussed China's credit market infrastructure and credit bureau development; Wang also noted the market opportunity from emerging middle-class mobile active consumers (EMMAs) which are a primary target market for China Rapid Finance; also of high importance in China is the use of big data; Wang reported that China Rapid Finance has been able to achieve its success by using predictive selection technology solutions derived from machine learning and big data algorithms. Source