Across The Border | P2P platform Yirendai ready to move up a financial league or two, including into wealth management
Analysts say that while larger platforms have scope to grow, smaller players will struggle in the face of tighter regulation
Yirendai, China’s largest peer-to-peer lending platform, is looking to raise its profile even higher, with an expanded product offering, the company’s chief executive Fang Yihan has told the South China Morning Post, shrugging off any worries about a regulation-induced slowdown in the industry.
The biggest challenge now facing China’s burgeoning P2P lending sector is compliance.
New rules governing the industry will come into force in August, and according to available drafts, these will impose a limit of 200 000 yuan (US$29,400) on lending to individual borrowers, require the lenders to carry out stricter background checks on all clients, and establish strong contractual relations with custodian banks.
Shares in Yirendai, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, plunged 22 per cent on August 24 last year, the day the rules were announced.
The company is majority owned by CreditEase, one of China’s largest fintechs, specialising in small business and consumer lending as well as wealth management for high net worth investors.
Despite many in the P2P industry fearing the stricter regime ahead, Fan however is rather more
