geo/china
Using real-time payments data and a risk-management system that analyzes more than 3,000 variables, Ma’s four-year-old MYbank has lent 2 trillion yuan ($290 billion) to nearly 16 million small companies.
China's banking industry has traditionally been dominated by state-owned financial institutions. Even the smaller banks have roots going back to provincial or municipal governments. In recent years, however, Beijing has started to issue banking licences to private players. A new kind of digital-first bank, sometimes referred to as a 'neobank' in the West, has quickly emerged in China. Yillion Bank is one of it and is the only one headquartered in Northeast China.
From agribusiness to capital markets, JD Digits has been a leading ecosystem player to bring automation, robotics and artificial intelligence to a wide range of industries. SME Finance Forum members had an opportunity to learn about JD Digits during the Forum's second immersion program to JD Finance, the company that manages the service, on June 10.
CreditEase - an SME Finance Forum member - founder and CEO Ning Tang recently shared with Mckinsey his perspective on how fintech players, from both within and outside China, can capture the opportunity among small and midsize Chinese businesses and how artificial intelligence (AI) can help. The following commentary is adapted from that conversation.
Nielsen and Alipay jointly issued the 2017 Survey: Outbound Chinese Tourism and Consumption Trends, which details how Chinese tourists pay for products in services and their behaviors in making such decisions. Ninety-nine percent of Chinese respondents have the Alipay app installed on their phones.
The People’s Bank of China wants fintech firms to pitch in on a government-controlled monitoring system to watch over financial transactions on the internet. Sun Gouofeng, director of general of the Bank’s research institute says it is unfair for taxpayers’ money to cover the costs arising from heightened regulation on fintech businesses. Making remarks at a conference, Gouofeng wants more of the major players in fintech to take the responsibility of funding its regulation.
Business activity in China’s SME sector weakened for the third straight month in June to hit the lowest in 16 months, a Standard Chartered survey tracking more than 600 Chinese SMEs found. Unemployment has increased and SME firms are expected to become unprofitable this year.
It has become difficult for smaller businesses lacking strong collateral to find financial at viable interest rates. Experts say banks are reluctant to extend credit to SMEs, rather they prefer to lend to bigger companies. Beijing is feeling the crunch the hardest, as four-fifths of its work force is SMEs.
In the story of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, the magical word “sesame” was used to open the seal of a cave where Ali Baba found hidden treasure. In China today, the same word is connected to another kind of magic, one that reveals hidden identities of the socially and economically disadvantaged. Sesame Credit (“芝麻信用” in Mandarin) is a product launched by Alibaba that pulls from transaction records on e-commerce platforms to understand a person or company’s creditworthiness.
Over 35 million Small and Medium Enterprises in the country, in 2017, will be empowered with Diamond Bank Mobile Point of Sales, sequel to the collaboration between Diamond Bank and Microsoft on SMEs growth.
The Head, Emerging Business, Diamond Bank, Njideka Esomeju, said the solution would enhance business productivity among SMEs in the country.
“We need to get SMEs to move online, which is the next level of business, and to learn how to maximise the use of their computers to improve their business efficiency,” Esomeju said.
This is the seventh annual report on China's MSME finance development, produced by a team led by Shi Jianping and Yang Rubing of the Central University of Finance and Economics.
The Web link here is only for an English Summary. The original Chinese version has an impressive volume of some 450 pages.
