Everything We Know About the Bitcoin Scam Rocking Twitter’s Most Prominent Accounts U.S. Fintech Bond Financial Secures $32 Million Through...
The new head of Ant Financial's international operations, Douglas Feagin, helped ink a deal with 930,000 merchants across Europe to help Chinese travelers use Alipay; Doug Feagin explained to the Financial Times why the deal was done: "120 million Chinese travelers went abroad in 2015 and that's growing at 18% a year. The vast majority of whom use Alipay."; Alipay has now expanded into India, Europe and Southeast Asia; it is still looking to go public in the near future. Source
Indonesia-based mobile payments and micro-loan startup Pundi-Pundi raised $4 million in a pre-A round of funding; the company plans to use the funds for user and partner growth in Indonesia and expand into other Southeast Asian markets like Singapore; they have over 100,000 users and 500 merchants in Indonesia; Pundi-Pundi translates to "wallet" and they are looking to help create a cashless society in Southeast Asia. Source
Chinese regulators are preparing new rules that target the businesses of the country's small-loan lenders; recent rules have capped P2P loans at Rmb200,000 ($28,925) for an individual and Rmb1 million ($144,626) for a company however small-loan lenders fall far below these thresholds and regulators fear the companies do not have adequate risk controls; 2016 data shows China has 8,673 small-loan companies with loans totaling Rmb927 billion ($134.1 billion) and this is in comparison to approximately Rmb673 billion ($97.3 billion) outstanding from P2P lenders; China's small-loan lenders are active in the market, offering a range of lending solutions and reporting small-loan asset securitizations of Rmb82 billion ($11.9 billion) in 2016; as the country continues its focus on tightening regulation for China's P2P lending industry, Li Junfeng, director of the financial inclusion department at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, says it will be specifically addressing new regulations that target the country's small lenders. Source
Automotive parts manufacturer Wanxiang Group has been actively investing in China and is the country's largest blockchain investor; Wanxiang Group recently committed $30 million to a smart cities initiative and is now planning a blockchain accelerator 'Chainbase Accelerator' with four startups involved in the program; Chainbase Accelerator will focus on blockchain initiatives for next-generation energy delivery, digital currency and smart governance; Wanxiang has also reported that it will begin to reveal plans for its smart city which will result in an innovative global platform for businesses. Source
Chinese online lender Dianrong has reported plans for a merger with Quark Finance; the merger will create a broadened set of credit offerings; Dianrong is known as the "Lending Club of China" and Quark Finance offers a range of financial services for consumers and small business owners. Source
Asia's alternative lending sector has been growing exponentially with a number of industry dynamics influencing the market; Forbes provides an overview of current market developments in China, India and Southeast Asia; growth in the three regions has been significantly influenced by a shift towards digital and a growing middle class increasingly using mobile technology; while marketplace lending has been growing in Asia a permeating challenge across all three regions is the lack of a deeply rooted credit underwriting system with robust data for lenders; China has approximately 2,200 P2P lenders with its P2P lending market valued at an estimated $100 billion however new regulations to handle fraud are likely to shrink the market; India is reporting about 30 P2P lenders in the country; India and Southeast Asia have a number of credible alternative lenders but seem to be growing cautiously in order to avoid the outbreaks of fraud experienced in China; Forbes provides a taxonomy of the various alternative lenders in Asia. Source
Bitcoin reported substantial gains in 2016, increasing 120% and 57% in the last three months of the year; on January 1 the cryptocurrency exchange rate versus the dollar increased to over $1,000; equity strategist, Christopher Wood of CLSA notes that trading in China has concurrently been high with trading on the China BTC Bitcoin Exchange increasing from Rmb 1 billion ($140 million) in September to Rmb 27.8 billion ($4 billion) in December; in an article from Asia Times, the source also reported that China accounted for 42% of Bitcoin's trading in the first six months of 2016; one factor significantly affecting the increased trading volume has been the weakening of China's currency causing increased interest in foreign investments. Source
China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) is now consulting some blockchain companies on ICOs, China Business News exclusively reports; now it is in the phase of collecting suggestions and having discussions; CSRC will particularly keep tabs on the fraud projects that raise money in the guise of cryptocurrencies and ICOs. Source (Chinese)
In a move that goes counter to the current regulatory trend the Taiwanese government has taken a positive approach to the new cryptocurrency market; "Just because China and South Korea are banning, doesn't mean that Taiwan should follow suit – there is a huge opportunity for growth in the future,” explained Wellington Koo, Chairman of Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission. Source.