March 14, 2017 @ 12:08 pm By Spencer Li  |  

One of the fundamental differences between Chinese and US lending platforms can be found just by examining the home pages of their websites. Most, if not all, US platforms’ landing pages are targeted at borrowers and exhibit mainly information around borrowing whereas, on those of… Read More

August 31, 2016 @ 4:09 pm By Spencer Li  |  

After nearly eight months since the original draft was first issued, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (“CBRC”) announced the official rules for the online lending industry on August 24, 2016. The unveiling came accompanied with a few policy curveballs that few industry participants were expecting…. Read More

July 27, 2016 @ 1:00 am By Spencer Li  |  

P2P platform focused on property collateral mortgage Hepan Finance received RMB 66M Series A Investment Founded in 2013, Hepan Finance is a P2P platform focused on providing operating capital to small businesses in the Shanghai area. Prior to launching the lending platform, the company’s experience, and… Read More

June 16, 2016 @ 7:06 pm By Spencer Li  |  

Auto financing P2P platform Weidai.com received RMB 1 billion Series C Investment Founded in 2011, Weidai.com is China’s first and largest specialty P2P platform that focuses on providing secured automobile loans. It also provides used car financing services through partnerships with used car marketplaces. The company… Read More

February 29, 2016 @ 10:43 pm By Spencer Li  |  

Following the much-talked-about Ezubao $7.6 billion Ponzi scheme collapse at the end of last year, the perception and outlook of the Chinese online lending industry has grown increasingly negative both within and outside of China. Murmurs of regulation began floating around in early 2014 but… Read More

January 18, 2016 @ 6:00 am By Spencer Li  |  

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (“CBRC”) issued the highly anticipated draft rules for online lending on December 28, 2015. Ever since the State Council guidelines (“the Guidelines”) for the Chinese internet finance industry were issued in July, rumors about the timing of the online lending… Read More

January 3, 2016 @ 2:07 pm By Spencer Li  |  

A flurry of internet finance-related regulatory documents were issued in China last week just before the New Year. On December 28th, the People’s Bank of China (“PBOC”) issued the final rules on online payments while the China Banking Regulatory Commission (“CBRC”) issued the draft rules… Read More

December 9, 2015 @ 7:30 am By Spencer Li  |  

On November 16, 2015, Yirendai, an “online” Chinese marketplace lending platform, filed its Form F-1  (Form F-1 /A) with the SEC for an IPO listing on the NYSE. Yirendai is a subsidiary of CreditEase, a sizeable financial services firm in China that provides lending and wealth… Read More

December 4, 2015 @ 3:26 am By Spencer Li  |  

Following in the footsteps of Chinese internet giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com, leading Chinese P2P platforms have begun evolving into one-stop wealth management platforms. Alibaba’s Ant Financial, Tencent’s WeBank, and JD.com’s JD Finance (for some background on these platforms, please refer to a… Read More

November 19, 2015 @ 11:19 pm By Spencer Li  |  

When the State Council of China issued its guidelines for the internet finance industry in July, the single most talked about guideline among platform operators is the government’s encouragement of banks to provide custodian services for investor funds used for platform transactions. Many have interpreted… Read More

November 7, 2015 @ 12:38 pm By Spencer Li  |  

  Last month I attended LendIt Europe in London (Oct. 20-21) to learn more about developments in the marketplace lending industry in the UK and in broader continental Europe. LendIt has once again done an excellent job organizing the conference and brought together a wealth… Read More