Sources report that Chinese online property and casualty insurance company Zhong An is planning for an initial public offering (IPO) in China; the firm was founded by Alibaba's Jack Ma, Tencent's Pony Ma and Ma Mingzhe from Ping An Insurance Group of China; a primary product for the firm is e-commerce shipping insurance which accounts for approximately 50% of the business; currently the firm's major shareholders include Ant Financial with 16% and Tencent Holdings Ltd. with 12%; in 2015 it reported a valuation of $8 billion and it currently plans to raise an additional 2 billion yuan ($290 million) to help it prepare for the IPO. Source
India will be utilizing the world's largest biometrics database, Aadhaar, to implement smart health cards for its senior citizens; senior citizens will be receiving an Aadhaar-based smart card; the cards will include information on their health, healthcare and healthcare history; the Aadhaar smart cards will also have payment processing capabilities; the government will test the use of the Aadhaar smart cards in 15 districts during the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Source
A report from the Beijing Bureau of Financial Work says 90% of P2P platforms will struggle to stay in business in 2017; if their predictions are correct that would reduce the total number of P2P companies from 4,856 to approximately 500; companies will begin to undergo a review by regulators and it is expected that a run on deposits is likely to occur; regulators will be checking for a number of variables including two new requirements: the appointment of a custodian bank and full disclosure of the use of deposits; other factors under review will include risk management, business scale, IT infrastructure, investment sources and shareholders' credibility; firms will either be granted a P2P lending license or be required to liquidate; in 2016 the industry accounted for 800 billion yuan and according to the Beijing Bureau of Financial Work it is likely that 2017 will end drastically different for the industry overall. Source
Australian P2P commercial property marketplace lender LendEx has appointed two new board members to its board of directors; Brian Benger will join the board with experience from consulting firm Mercer; credit market executive Kim Jenkins will also join the board; Jenkins is currently the CEO of the Australian Retail Credit Association; Benger and Jenkins join Robert Hines, the firm's chairman, as the board's non-executive directors. Source
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Reports continue to show Chinese investors increasingly investing in bitcoin as the yuan devalues; over 90% of bitcoin trading has been reported by Chinese investors and the cryptocurrency's price is showing close correlation with the value of the yuan; Chinese regulation limiting foreign investment to $50,000 per year in order to stabilize the currency appears to be a factor as wealthy Chinese investors use bitcoin investment to evade the regulation since it is considered a borderless investment; while China appears to be a driving force for the currency's gains, experts also believe improved trading efficiencies and solutions for bitcoin are also factors for its recent appreciation. Source
Tokyo-based fintech company MoneyForward could go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers market by September; its market cap is expected to be JPY10 to 20 billion ($90 to $180 million); founded in 2012, MoneyForward is a personal financial management app which includes accounting functions, payroll service, statement collection, expense reporting, financial projections and the ability to send an invoice; MoneyForward has over four million individual users in Japan. Source
B2B FinPAL, Ethis Kapital, FundedByMe Malaysia, ManagePay Services, Modalku Ventures and Peoplender have now been registered with the Securities Commission of Malaysia and plan to begin business in 2017; Malaysia is the first of the ASEAN countries to register P2P lending companies. Source
HNA Group has a diverse portfolio of investments in a wide range of industries spanning from hotels to electronics and airlines; the Chinese-based company has now reported significant investment in the financial services industry with recent deals focused on the SkyBridge hedge fund platform, New Zealand lender UDC Finance and a 3% stake in Deutsche Bank; the investments from HNA follow encouragement by Beijing in global investments; they also reflect China's growing middle class and the expected demand for broadened investment options among Chinese consumers. Source
Orix Corporation and its affiliate Yayoi Co., Ltd. have launched a new online lending business; the platform will focus on lending to small businesses in Japan; the service will seek to utilize big data and artificial intelligence to develop an advanced credit underwriting model for lending. Source