Ant Financial Services Group is focused on serving small and micro enterprises as well as consumers. With the vision "to turn trust into wealth," Ant Financial is dedicated to building an open ecosystem of internet thinking and technologies while working with other financial institutions to support the future financial needs of society. Businesses operated by Ant Financial Services Group include: Alipay for payments, Yu'e Bao for money market services, Ant Fortune for wealth management, Ant Check Later and Ant Micro Loans for financing, Zhima Credit (formerly Sesame Credit) for credit reference, Zhao Cai Bao for online lending and MYBank for small business lending. Source
The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has issued a new guidance document titled, "Guiding Opinions on Risk Prevention and Control in the Banking Sector"; the document targets banking institutions and their risk prevention efforts related to internet finance businesses; it focuses on ten types of high priority risks and emphasizes the requirement that P2P lenders partner with a custody bank; in addition to further details on broad market rectification it also includes emphasis on student lending and microloan businesses. Source
SmartFunding has raised S$700,000 in a seed funding round led by Fintech Asia Group; the firm is marketing 20% to 30% annual returns for invoice financing investors; the invoice financing business seeks to capitalize on the Singapore market's small and medium-enterprise businesses which account for half of Singapore's GDP and approximately 70% of the country's jobs. Source
CoinTribe is using advanced credit modeling to provide online lending to small and medium-sized businesses in India; it also offers personal loans; its services are leading the marketplace for small and medium-sized businesses; company provides an online marketplace for loans and also offers platform as a service digital technology to banks; CoinTribe has been originating loans since March 2016; has raised $3 million in funding and has plans to raise another $10 million to $15 million in the near-term. Source
The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India recently said at an event that currently there are different regulations for various categories of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) which could lead to regulatory arbitrage, and that the central bank is moving in the direction of harmonizing some of the regulations, and they will get clarity on this sooner than later. Source
In an opinion article, one investor shares emails that have been leaked at Chinese marketplace lender Yirendai (NYSE: YRD); leaked emails show the company's chairman requiring parent company employees at CreditEase to invest in a fund to purchase undisclosed US equities; the author states the fund is likely purchasing shares of YRD and presents his case for shorting the stock; the stock recently saw volatility following China's new regulatory guidance for P2P lenders. Source
Lend Academy Article: Hongling Capital: The Worst Victim of China’s P2P Lending Regulatory Crackdown
China's P2P platform Hongling Capital is shutting down; Lend Academy details its business highlights and subsequent shutdown in their article; continued losses, large loans and payment guarantees were a few of the factors that led to its closing; the article also highlights some of the issues with guaranteeing principal or interest and includes Hongling's plans for the future. Source
National Australia Bank's (NAB) venture capital business, NAB Ventures has joined in an investment round raising $24 million for Veem, a foreign exchange startup business; Veem provides business to business cross border payment services with blockchain technology; NAB and NAB Ventures have been actively involved in technology investments also investing in Data Republic, Medipass Solutions and Localz; Australia is also taking a lead role in developing blockchain standards globally; it is active in the development of blockchain standards through the ISO/TC 307 and will host the first international blockchain standards meeting for ISO/TC 307. Source
Consumer point of sale lender, Finomena, owns India’s most downloaded fintech app and they hope to continue gaining customers in this emerging market; led by Riddhi Mittal, formerly of Microsoft, and Abhishek Garg, a private equity investor, the company has exploded serving millennials who have little or no credit; they focus on extending credit for electronics, laptops, smartphones and furniture, which they view as good and productive categories for loans; the company has also pioneered flexible monthly installments in India and are looking to raise a Series A round soon. Source
Pi Capital International LLC has advised Money360 on a $250 million structured debt facility; the funding comes from a financial institution in South Korea; Pi Capital was able to facilitate the transaction through its global alternative capital network. Source