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Asia/Pac

·Aug. 7, 2017

China Disrupted – How Fintech is Changing the Way That 1.5 Billion People Bank

At LendIt USA 2017, Lang Di CEO Gabriel Hai hosted a panel themed how fintechs are changing the way that Chinese people bank; one approach is to use big data technology to reach the individual credit market; panelists agree that China's fintech platforms are more willing to cooperate with traditional banks, as the banks have a more friendly regulatory environment and sufficient cheap money, whilst platforms are at advantages of bringing new technologies to the cooperation; however, Zhou Xinming, CEO of Hexindai, pointed out that China's fintech companies' customer base is more of individual investors rather than institutional investors, and the former are still not financially sophisticated. Source

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Asia/Pac News Roundup Online Lending

·Mar. 21, 2017

Chart of the Week: Charting Recent Activity in China’s P2P Lending Industry

The Asset provides details on recent decreases in China's P2P lending market; the chart above notes a significant decrease in transaction volume for P2P lenders in China since December 2016; the publication also reports on the number of Chinese P2P platforms and the number of problematic P2P platforms from January 2014 through February 2017. Source

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Asia/Pac News Roundup Online Lending Regulation

·Nov. 3, 2016

New Korean Regulation Limits P2P Investments for Most Individuals

Korea's Financial Services Commission just issued a guideline that limits most individual investors from committing more than 10 million won ($8,750) to P2P investments in a year; those individuals who have earnings over 100 million won ($87,500) can still commit up to 40 million won to P2P; Korean P2P platforms are complaining that investments in any equity project or loan portfolio tend to be skewed to a few individuals who invest more than 10 million won (60% of investors fall into this category on average across platforms there), therefore the new regulation will drive up funding costs; regulators say this over-concentration of funds from few investors is precisely the trend they hope to curtail. Source

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Aug. 10, 2017

Goldman Sachs Releases Rise of China Fintech Series Report

The report, "Payment: The Ecosystem Gateway" is the first one in Goldman Sachs' "The Rise of China FinTech" series; the report focuses on the emergence of new electronic payment methods, as payment is a crucial gateway to most other services, and this is where the innovators have gained the strongest footholds in China. Source (Chinese)

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Aug. 18, 2017

Jack Ma-Backed Yunfeng Leads $1.7bn Purchase of MassMutual Asia Unit

Yunfeng Financial Group (Yunfeng FG) said it would be the main investor in a $1.7 billion acquisition of insurer MassMutual International's Hong Kong unit; Yunfeng FG will hold 60% of MassMutual Asia and the rest will be owned by other investors such as Ant Financial, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Ltd and China's internet giant Sina; the deal will add insurance products to Yunfeng's existing fintech-focused financial services. Source

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Sep. 5, 2017

China Bans ICOs

Chinese authorities on Monday ordered a ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs); a PBoC statement ordered that ICO activities should be halted starting from Monday, and ICO platforms should not engage in exchange services between fiat currencies, virtual coins and tokens; two of China's leading ICO platforms, ICOAGE and ICOINFO, had already halted services before the official statement came out. Source

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Asia/Pac News Roundup Online Lending

·Apr. 10, 2017

P2P Finance Association Established in China

The National Internet Finance Association has announced the establishment of a P2P Finance Association; the Association will be led by the People's Bank of China, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission; the Association will seek to improve the industry and promote its development. Source

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Dec. 30, 2016

Video: Outlook on Asia Fintech in 2017

Bloomberg Intelligence provides insight on Asia's fintech market in 2017; in internet finance Alibaba and Tencent have a strong market position with high barriers to entry set for the growing market; blockchain is expected to remain at the forefront of fintech development with use in online money transfers, electronic payments, banking and internet finance; insurtech will also be important with technology focused on sales distribution, product development and client engagement; data tracking, artificial intelligence and internet of things technology are also expected to be factors for insurtech. Source

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Asia/Pac News Roundup Online Lending

·Apr. 12, 2017

MoolahSense Adds Invoice Financing Product

Singapore-based marketplace lender MoolahSense has added invoice financing; the service will provide another lending product for businesses; the firm's CEO says the product is intended to extend the business services it provides to underserved small businesses; the product will be available for short-term capital needs of up to $15,000 and is expected to target returns of 12% for investors. Source

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Asia/Pac Finance News Roundup

·Nov. 16, 2016

China’s Central Bank Increases Digital Currency Efforts

The People's Bank of China is reportedly ramping up efforts to create a digital currency that would coincide with their paper currency; the currency released by the People's Bank of China will be legal currency and make use of special encrypted technology; there has been an effort within the central bank to create a digital currency since 2014; problems related to the right technology and deployment of the currency have persisted. Source

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