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to-peer lending
in China:
An overview and
survey case study
About ACCA
1. Executive summary.................................................................................................................... 5
7. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................. 21
References....................................................................................................................................... 23
About the authors 4
YU YUXIN
Yu Yuxin is a lecturer in the School of Economics
and Finance at Shanghai International Studies
University. Yuxins research interests are in
Chinas financial markets and macro-economy,
and in applications of big data, especially to
peer-to-peer finance. He has been a visiting
scholar at Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University) in the US.
1. Executive summary 5
Chinas peer-to-peer lending market has tend to use more conventional credit
Chinas peer-to-peer become the largest in the world. The rapid allocation processes. At the same time,
growth of online peer-to-peer lending in because of the relative lack of available credit
lending market has China has been driven by the supply of funds information, most direct peer-to-peer lending
become the largest in from retail investors and by the demand for platforms in China also tend to rely much
the world. access to finance from individuals and from more on offline processes.
the owners of small and micro businesses. By
applying innovations in alternative finance, SURVEY FINDINGS
peer-to-peer lending in China is creating new
channels of credit information and increasing This report also presents findings from the
access to finance. Over half the borrowers ACCAs own detailed survey of 935 borrowers
from peer-to-peer lending providers who and lenders from Chinas first online direct
were surveyed for this report said they had no peer-to-peer lending company, Paipaidai.
previous history of borrowing from traditional Paipaidai started offering unsecured online
financial institutions, credit societies or other peer-to-peer micro-loans in 2007, initially to
entities. Half the borrowers surveyed also said small e-commerce TaoBao shops. By 2015,
that their main reason for borrowing was to Paipaidai claimed over 1,200,000 active
accumulate credit worthiness. Chinas members, i.e. borrowers and lenders.
government has supported the continued According to Paipaidais founders, in the
growth of internet finance, including year to mid-2015, 42% of its borrowers
peer-to-peer lending and equity were business borrowers and 58% were
crowdfunding, while introducing moderately personal borrowers.
loose regulatory policies (PBOC 2015a).
INDIVIDUAL BORROWER SURVEY
SIZE AND COMPOSITION OF LENDING RESPONSES
While as yet there is no verifiable data on the The demand for easier access to credit has
volume of peer-to-peer lending in China, by been a key reason for the rapid growth of
the end of 2015 it could be as high as peer-to-peer lending in China. According to
US$20bn40bn.1 Retail investors are the the survey findings, for example, of those
primary funding source for peer-to-peer respondents borrowing through Paipaidai:
lending in China. The present research
suggests that business borrowers, who are 87% selected the low borrowing
mostly owners of small or micro businesses, threshold and easy borrower audit
and some owners of medium-sized process as their main reason for
enterprises, could make up between 20% borrowing through a peer-to-peer lending
and 40% of peer-to-peer lending borrowers provider such as Paipaidai
in China. This indicates a much higher share
of peer-to-peer business lending in China 56% said that they had no previous
than is the case in developed markets, which borrowing history from other financial
have been dominated by peer-to-peer institutions such as a traditional banks or
consumer lending.2 credit societies
1 According to data published by WangDaiZhiJia (), an online news site covering the peer-to-peer sector, the total transaction size of peer-to-peer lending in China
at the end of 2014 was almost RMB253bn (about US$40bn). Authors calculations based on data from www.wangdaizhijia.com
2 See Wardrop et al. (2015: 17) for data on peer-to-peer business lending in the UK and Europe.
The rise of peer-to-peer lending in China: 1. Executive summary 6
An overview and survey case study
57%
INDIVIDUAL INVESTOR RESPONSES requirement for peer-to-peer lending
providers is that they must now hold borrower
The supply of funds from individual retail and lender funds in custodian accounts with
investors is a key reason for the growth of registered financial institutions. This change
peer-to-peer lending in China. By lending raises the hurdles for providers and it is likely
through peer-to-peer providers, investors to lead to some consolidation, while securing
have been able to get returns three to five the future growth of peer-to-peer lending.
times higher than the bank deposit rate. Most
of individual lender respondents
individual lender respondents to the survey
to the survey said they usually bid (57%) said they usually bid for loans with REPORT METHODS
for loans with interest rates in the interest rates in the 12% to 18% range. This report explores the rise of peer-to-peer
12% to 18% range. lending in China to give SME communities
The most common decision factors given by and organisations around the world a better
lender respondents when making their bids understanding of peer-to-peer lending and
on the Paipaidai platform were: other forms of alternative finance as a viable
option for their financing needs. This report
the borrowers credit rating (72%) takes a qualitative approach to analysis and is
Paipaidais loan security guarantee (72%) based on ACCAs primary research and
the interest rate level of the loan (52%) secondary Chinese language sources.
the borrowers certification status (51%).
The primary data comes from the research
Most lender respondents to the survey also team interviews with industry participants in
said they were carrying out investments on China and from the primary research survey
their own behalf (85%), with the remainder mentioned above. Interviews were conducted
investing on behalf of themselves and close with representatives from five peer-to-peer
family or friends. lending providers in China: Paipaidai,
Jimubox, Credit Ease, Renrendai and
THE EVOLVING POLICY AND Dianrong, and with the CEO of the China
REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT Association for Microfinance (CAM), a
government-industry umbrella association
After allowing some years of rapid growth in covering peer-to-peer lending providers.
peer-to-peer lending and other forms of
internet finance, Chinas central government The online survey, carried out among
introduced a broad internet finance borrowers and lenders who use the peer-to-
guidance policy framework in July 2015. This peer lending provider Paipaidai, provided an
guidance policy encourages the growth and understanding of their experiences,
development of internet finance, including motivations and decisions. The survey
peer-to-peer lending and equity methods and findings are explained in more
crowdfunding, while introducing relatively detail in Chapter 5 of this report.
light regulatory measures. The key
2. The growth of peer-to-peer lending in China 7
1400
1200
Companies
1000
800
800
600
400
200
200
0
2012 2013 2014
3 Authors estimates based on data from the online media portal wangdaizhijia.com .
4 The estimate that 20%-40% of peer-to-peer financing in China is peer-to-peer business financing is the authors estimate based on the research teams interviews with
provider representatives, including PaiPaiDai, Dianrong and Jimubox. These platforms all started completely focused on lending to SMEs (including to micro enterprises)
and in 2014 these platforms reported that their share of P2P business lending was in the range of 40% to over 50% of their total financing (see section 4). While this share
of P2P business lending may be high compared to some other platforms in China, given the constraints on small and micro enterprising financing from traditional banks in
China we expect the share of P2P business financing in China is higher than in markets with more developed SME banking systems. Further industry research on the
shares of P2P consumer and P2P business lending across the sector in China is needed verify this estimate.
The rise of peer-to-peer lending in China: 2. The growth of peer-to-peer lending in China 8
An overview and survey case study
Since the start of the policy era of market In addition to small and micro enterprise
More detailed and reform and opening in the 1980s, a few financing, there is also demand from medium-
massive State-Owned Commercial Banks sized enterprises at the larger end of the SME
verifiable research (SOCBs) have dominated Chinas financial scale in China (these are much larger than
is required to get a system. For most of their recent history, these their counterparts in more developed
complete picture of large banks have predominately financed markets) for alternative financing
large state-owned enterprises and arrangements.7 Larger small and medium-
the changing financing government-related borrowers. In contrast, sized enterprises that are seeking more
composition of peer-to- the mass of the small, micro and medium- flexible loan term and repayment structures
peer lending in China. sized enterprises have relied on than have been offered by traditional banks
bootstrapping from their own earnings and have generally turned to informal shadow
have tended to borrow from informal bank financing (He et.al. 2013). Yet the
channels, especially from friends, family and development of large-volume peer-to-peer
business associates. Despite changes in the business lending has the potential to meet a
pattern of commercial bank financing in growing share of this demand for medium-
China over the past decade (Lardy 2014), sized enterprise financing. One example of a
there remains a large institutional gap in the peer-to-peer lending provider specialising in
supply of finance to smaller enterprises, this area, Jimubox, is discussed in Chapter 4.
individuals and households (He et al. 2013).
Many peer-to-peer lending providers have
At the same time, new financing channels also moved into consumer financing by
have emerged out of the massive growth of offering a diversified range of lending
e-commerce in China. For instance, by 2013 services in areas where the traditional banks
there were over 16m participating vendor have been too slow and too cumbersome to
businesses on the business-to-consumer operate such as consumer credit, car
online trading platform Taobao, the vast financing, education and training, as well as
majority of which were small and micro- mortgage financing. More detailed and
enterprises (Shrader 2013).5 Among the verifiable research is required to get a
peer-to-peer lending providers interviewed, complete picture of the changing financing
Paipaidai, Dianrong and Jimubox also started composition of peer-to-peer lending in China.
lending solely to small, micro or medium-sized
enterprise borrowers before they diversified
into peer-to-peer consumer lending.6
5 Taobao () is the online business-to-consumer retail platform of the e-commerce giant Alibaba.
6 For more details see the provider examples in Chapter 4.
7 Classifications for SMEs in China vary by broad industry type (e.g. primary, manufacturing, retail and wholesaling) which makes direct comparisons across sectors difficult.
For example, in manufacturing a small enterprise in classified as having between 20 and 300 employees and an operating revenue of between RMB3m-RMB20m. Yet a
small retail enterprise is classified as having between 10 and 49 employees and an operating revenue of between RMB1m-RMB5m. For details see Appendix 1.
3. Financial innovation and peer-to-peer 9
lending in China
Online peer-to-peer lending is a financial inputs are produced and applied. Economists
Online peer-to-peer innovation that has been rapidly diffused and have long held that banks and individual
adapted in China. This chapter looks at lenders face large transaction costs in
lending is a financial ACCAs framework for conceptualising the lending to small borrowers because of the
innovation that has been types of financial innovations involved in relatively high information asymmetries
rapidly diffused and peer-to-peer lending and how they have arising from the lack of detailed information
been adapted in China. This framework available to the lender about the capacity
adapted in China. considers financial intermediation through an and the willingness of small and especially
understanding of how four intermediate unsecured borrowers to repay loans.
financial inputs are combined or applied to Peer-to-peer lending technology
meet financial needs (ACCA 2014a). substantially reduces these information
asymmetries by pooling small borrowers and
These four intermediate financial inputs aggregating their loan-bid and existing
are information, control, collateral and risk credit information. In China, peer-to-peer
(Figure 3.1). Different financial technologies lending providers are able to bring in and
combine or apply these four intermediate systematise existing credit and credit proxy
inputs in different ways. Financial innovation information from a range of online third-party
can therefore be understood as new and providers, including:
usually more efficient ways of producing or
applying these financial inputs to meet new or records of existing personal or business
existing financial requirements or needs (ibid). credit information from traditional and
non-bank financial institutions, including
Below is a discussion of how peer-to-peer credit information from the central banks
lending models in China produce and national credit-registry system and
combine three of these intermediate financial movable assets registry information for
inputs: information, collateral, and risk. accounts receivables
Capital Labour
Financial technology
Financial technology
Financial services
Investment Savings
8 The definitions for the four intermediate inputs: information, collateral, control and risk, quoted in bold in this section are from ACCA (2014a).
The rise of peer-to-peer lending in China: 3. Financial innovation and peer-to-peer lending in China 10
An overview and survey case study
9 ACCA (2014a).
10 ACCA (2014a).
4. A typology of peer-to-peer 11
200%
PROVIDER CASE STUDY EXAMPLES In an interview, Chen Huan, CreditEases chief
strategy officer, explained that for CreditEase
Mostly online ppdai.com () the difficulty of verifying credit information
Paipaidai began operation in 2007 as the first means that only a very small percentage of
direct peer-to-peer technology-based lending lenders are qualified for online borrowing.
company in China. Paipaidai is the closest to CreditEase therefore relies primarily on its
a pure online lending model and is based on offline branches to verify borrowers. The
lending small and micro loans to online
growth over the past five years, borrowers. The total registered membership
credit verification process is more like that of
and by mid-2014 Paipaidais a traditional bank, in which offline credit
was around 1.2m people between 2014 and officers approve lending. CreditEase offers
total transaction volume was 2015. Over half its members are under 30 both collateralised and non-collateralised
over RMB1.4bn years old and over 80% are male. Paipaidai loans. With property as collateral, lending
has experienced 200% growth over the past amounts can range from RMB300,000 to
five years, and by mid-2014 its total RMB4m. Non-collateralised loans can range
transaction volume was over RMB1.4bn.11 from RMB50,000 to RMB100,000.12 The loan
term is up to two years.
In an interview, Paipaidai co-founders Zhang
Jun and Hu Honghui described how, in While all loan contracts are between
Paipaidais lending model, borrowers submit individual lenders and borrowers, CreditEase
an online loan application to Paipaidai, which acts like a broker. The company charges all
includes the borrowers personal information borrowers a flat rate of 12% interest on the
(photo ID, address, and phone number). value of the loan, regardless of the risk level.
Paipaidai then verifies borrowers information, In addition to the flat fee of 12%, the
holds an online video chat with the borrower company also charges borrowers an
to ask follow-up questions and then assigns a additional interest rate fee depending on the
credit rating to the borrower. Where borrowers type of loan product (there are six different
have an online trading history, their data and loan products) and its assumed risk level.
credit information are relatively easy to verify. Borrowers pay the flat 12% interest plus the
The borrowers loan request is then posted as loan product fee, which brings the total
an auction-style listing on Paipaidais website. interest fee to the borrower to between 12%
Investors can view all borrower listings online and 24% interest on the principal. All lenders
and pick the investments that match their receive a list of recommended borrowers to
portfolio. Paipaidai will guarantee the choose from; if they do not like the borrowers
investors principal if they have fully diversified on the list, they may ask for a new list.
their investment portfolio.
Lenders are offered a flat 12% interest rate
Mostly offline CreditEase.cn () return on their principal regardless of the risk
Some providers rely much more heavily on level of the loan. The additional interest
offline processes to source borrowers and charge to the borrower (for the loan product)
lenders, using a network of local offices, to is deposited by the company in a bad loan
verify credit information and to contract reserve, which is used to satisfy loan
lending. Credit Ease fits this model. CreditEase guarantees on the principle in cases where
is a wealth-management company with a borrowers end up defaulting. The average
mostly offline peer-to-peer lending business. investor amount is about RMB500,000 and
CreditEase started its lending business in the average loan size is around RMB50,000.
2006 by lending small loans to students in a
technical and training agency. CreditEase
works with offline third-party agencies to find
borrowers and lenders, and has opened
offline branches in most major cities.
11 The official name of the Chinese currency is the renminbi (RMB) and its unit of account is the yuan.
12 The average CNY (RMB) to USD exchange rate was 6.2 RMB to 1 USD in the year to 18 September 2015. Authors calculation based on data from,
<http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/hist/dat00_ch.htm>.
The rise of peer-to-peer lending in China: 4. A typology of peer-to-peer lending models in China 13
An overview and survey case study
Online and offline and many of its borrowers come from referrals
In response to investor- Dianrong, Jimubox and RenRenDai are from its own offline offices and teams.
examples of peer-to-peer lending providers Dianrong uses site visits to verify borrowers
risk, Dianrong has that combine new online financial technology information. Personal loans made via
developed a group- with offline processes. Dianrong average from RMB50,000 to
investing product RMB150,000. SME loans are RMB1m2m in
Dianrong.com () is a technology-based average size. The interest rates vary from 8%
through which investors peer-to-peer lending company that started at the lowest to 20% at the highest. The loan
group together to pick a operations in March 2013. Dianrong was terms are from 1 month to three years.
loan strategy in which co-founded by Soul Htite, who had also Dianrong is also involved in establishing a
co-founded Lending Club in the US and who number of partnerships with local banks, such
direct contracting and had been a leader in using technology to as Suzhou Bank, to start peer-to-peer lending
diversification is fully automate much of the credit-lending cycle. platforms. Under these partnerships Dianrong
automated through a real- Dianrong started by building a technology- provides the technology services and the
based direct lending platform for SMEs and platform is operated by the bank.
time transactional system. then moved into personal lending. Slightly
more than half of Dianrongs lending business Jimubox.com () is a direct peer-to-
is conducted with SMEs. peer lending platform with its headquarters in
Beijing. In an interview, Jimubox co-founder,
In an interview, Pan Jing, Diangrongs chief Barry Freeman explained how it had started
media officer, explained that although the lending in August 2013 and by the end of
initial idea was for Dianrong to replicate the November 2014, it had about half a million
technical and operational model of Lending users, over RMB3bn in total lending and
Club, the founders realised this approach was about RMB 540m in current lending. In July
not viable because of large differences in the 2015, Jimuboxs primary trading volume had
availability of credit information and very climbed to RMB900m, with another
different investor characteristics in China from RMB200m in secondary trading of primary
those in the US. In response to investor-risk, loans. Because Jimubox was later to start
Dianrong has developed a group-investing online peer-to-peer lending in China, the
product through which investors group founders sought to establish the company
together to pick a loan strategy in which with a business model aligned with the
direct contracting and diversification is fully expected incoming sector regulations.
automated through a real-time transactional Jimubox does not use credit pooling (rather,
system. As new investors join and new loans all lending is direct one-to-one lending) or
become available, the group-investing product any form of loan guarantees for investors (on
automatically divests among more borrowers. either principle or interest), which means that
the business is in line with recent and
This group-investing product differs from the expected regulatory changes.
practice of pooling funds and investing
through trusts or index funds, which can be Small and medium enterprise (SME) lending
less transparent. In Dianrongs group- is the largest Jimubox loan category.
investing system, the contracting remains Jimuboxs SME loans are mostly for larger
direct contracting and all details are available enterprises, with loan sizes ranging in value
to investors through a real-time transactional from RMB1m up to RMB15m. For a loan bid
system. Dianrong offers a guarantee to to be registered on Jimubox, SME borrowers
investors on their principal, but this is must have an approved third-party credit-
conditional on their investing through a guarantee company backing their bid. Loans
heavily diversified group investment system. must have some form of credit enhancement
and security. While loans are always made to
Dianrong emphasises the need for offline individual SMEs, the bid registration process
processes because of the relative lack of may come from the SMEs themselves or from
reliable credit information on borrowers in third-party credit-guarantee companies
China. Dianrong seeks to establish a direct (channel partners) seeking to raise funds for
offline relationship with borrowers. The individual SMEs via Jimubox.
company has 11 offices spread across China
The rise of peer-to-peer lending in China: 4. SMPs are vulnerable, but shrewd commercial practices can protect them 14
An overview and survey case study
51%
Borrowing to accumulate credit worthiness Borrowing at between 8% and 18%
The most surprising response to the survey interest
from individual borrowers concerned the The interest rate borrowing range for most
main loan use they identified for borrowing individual borrowers (73%) was between 8%
funds online. The main loan use reported by to 18% a year (Figure 5.3). The largest
51% of individual borrowers was to proportion of individual borrowers (38%)
accumulate credit worthiness (Figure 5.1). reported borrowing at between 8% and 12%
The main loan use reported by These borrowers were taking on interest while the next largest group (35%) reported
51% of individual borrowers was repayments in the range of 8% to 18% borrowing at interest rates between 12% and
interest to secure a positive online credit 18%. Most individual borrowers reported that
to accumulate credit worthiness. rating. The share of respondents borrowing their borrowing amounts were low. The
to accumulate credit worthiness was high largest proportion of individual borrowers
across all individual borrower respondents (49%) reported borrowing between RMB3000
income and loan interest ranges, regardless and RMB5000 (Figure 5.4): about a months
of whether they had previously borrowed income at the low-income range. The next
from other financial institutions. This suggests largest share of individual borrowers (20%)
that, in the absence of widely accessible reported that they generally borrowed
formal credit sources in China, individual amounts of between RMB5000 and
borrowers are prepared to pay very high RMB10,000.
transaction costs to secure better financing
terms in the future. Most individual borrowers (91%) reported
that they borrowed on short terms of one
Over half (56%) of individual borrower year or less, while the largest group of
respondents also reported that they had no individual borrowers (40%) said they
previous borrowing history from other borrowed for between three to six months.
financial institutions such as traditional banks, The low borrowing threshold and easy-
credit societies or other entities (Figure 5.2). application auditing were cited by 72% of
The next most common loan uses were to individual borrowers as their main reason for
meet basic needs (20%), and to fund major choosing internet finance loans on a platform
purchases of consumer durables (9%), which such as Paipaidai.
are typical consumer-financing reasons. A
further 7% of individual borrowers reported
that they were borrowing funds to finance
their own businesses, for use as working
capital or to meet start-up costs.
Figure 5.1: Main loan use (n=341) Figure 5.2: Borrowed from banking, insurance, credit or other
financial institutions or entities (n=339)
Other, please specify 5%
60% 56%
Working capital, business 7%
50%
Accumulate creditworthiness 51% 44%
Figure 5.3: Interest rate borrowing range (n=342) Figure 5.4: Loan value range, RMB (n=342)
40% 38% 100001 or more 2%
35%
35%
50001-100000 2%
30%
30001-50000 6%
25%
INDIVIDUAL LENDER RESPONSES agencies (25%). The largest proportion of range (Figure 5.6), that is, at an interest rate
(n=510) lenders (41%) lived in their own home without range that was three to five times higher than
a mortgage, while another 24% lived in the bank deposit rate at the time of the
Individual lender respondents (a total of 510 owner-occupied housing with a mortgage. survey. The largest share of lender
of the respondents) tended to be slightly respondents (49%) said they generally bid for
older and more highly educated than the Lender views and motivations loans in a three-to-six-month term range
borrowers; 80% of them said they were male, Lenders were asked their main reasons (Figure 5.7). The most common amount that
and 20% female, so women are a higher (multiple responses allowed) for choosing an lenders bid for (47%) was in the low RMB3000
proportion of lenders than of borrowers. investment channel such as Paipaidai loans to RMB5000 range, with 20% of lenders
Lenders also tended to be young, with 73% (Figure 5.5). The most common responses choosing to bid for loans of less than
between the ages of 20 and 38 years, but were to increase the number of available RMB3000. Lenders were also asked to choose
there were also more lenders (27%) who were investment channels (76%), to realise capital from a list of the main factors that they
39 years or older. Lenders tended to be more gains (73%), and to get higher returns than considered in making their bids on the
highly educated than borrowers were: 86% of the bank interest rate (73%). For 11% of Paipaidai platform (multiple responses were
lenders had tertiary qualifications, 56% having lenders, supporting wider social development allowed, see Figure 5.8). The most common
completed university-level degrees. Of these and SME financing was a reason for investing responses were the borrowers credit rating
46% had bachelors degrees and 12% had through a peer-to-peer lending channel such (72%), Paipaidais loan security guarantee
masters degrees. as Paipaidai. When asked what they thought (72%), the interest-rate level of the loan (52%),
was the largest constraint on the and the borrowers certification status (51%).
Lenders reported higher earnings than development of internet finance, most
borrowers did lenders (59%) chose the credit environment, Individual rather than institutional
While the largest proportion of lenders (46%) followed by the level of economic investors
reported monthly incomes at the low development (37%). Most borrowers, in Most investor respondents said that they
RMB3,000 to RMB5,000 range, 39% reported contrast, selected these constraints equally were carrying out investments on their own
incomes of between RMB5,000 and (46%), which suggests that lenders tended to behalf (85%). A further 3% said they were also
RMB10,000 a month while 14% reported high be more conscious of credit risk than investing for family and friends, while only 1%
incomes of between RMB10,000 and borrowers were! of lenders said they were investing for others
RMB20,000 a month. The largest group of on an institutional basis. In addition, 10% of
lenders worked in private business (45%). A Lender bid preferences individual lender respondents identified
higher proportion of lenders than borrowers Most lenders (57%) said they usually bid for themselves as observers rather than active
worked in public institutions and government loans with interest rates in the 12% to 18% investors on the Paipaidai platform.
Figure 5.5: Main reasons for selecting an investment channel like Figure 5.6: Preferred interest rate lending bid range (n=509)
PaiPaiDai to bid for lending (n=507) multiple response 70%
Figure 5.7: What loan term do you generally bid for on PaiPaiDai? Figure 5.8: What factors do you most value in making your bids?
(n=510) ( n=515) (multiple answers)
60%
Other, please specify 4%
49%
50%
The borrowers use of funds 24%
BUSINESS BORROWER RESPONSES most recent complete financial year. The Low borrowing threshold
(n=24) largest proportion (45%) of business The most common reason chosen by
respondents reported very low business business borrowers for choosing internet
Only 24 of the respondents completed the earnings of RMB20,000 or less a year. This finance loans was the low threshold and easy
business borrower section of the survey. Across suggests that such businesses are side- borrower audit process (87%). Business
all borrower respondent categories, 90 out of a businesses and that the owners have other borrowers were also asked what factors they
total of 935 survey respondents said that they sources of income, or that their business is thought could lower their Paipaidai loan
were borrowing to finance their businesses, ie doing very poorly, or that they are interest rate. Their most common multiple
fewer than 10% of respondents.13 Nevertheless, misreporting. The next largest group of response choices (Figure 5.10) were good
this gives some data on self-identified business business borrowers (23%) reported business loan payment transactions on the Paipaidai
borrowers. These business borrowers tended revenue of RMB20,000 to RMB50,000. A further platform (87%), more detailed business
to be older than the individual borrowers. 18% reported business earnings of RMB 50,000 operating information, such as their Taobao
Business borrower respondents were also to RMB 100,000, and 14% reported earnings in transaction history (70%), and detailed
overwhelming male (91%) and tertiary educated the range of RMB 100,000 to RMB 500,000. personal or business credit reports from the
(74%). Of these, 52% had completed college The majority (52%) reported they had 6 20 Peoples Bank of China Reports (57%).14
and 22% had university-level qualifications. employees, 22% had 2150 employees, and
Business borrower respondents reported another 22% had five employees or fewer. Most business borrowers were new
higher monthly incomes than the individual borrowers
borrowers: 43% of business borrowers Financing short-term cash flow Most business borrowers (73%) said they had
reported a monthly income of RMB5000 to The most common reason chosen by no previous experience of borrowing from
RMB10,000 and 35% reported a monthly business borrowers for taking out peer-to- other financial institutions (Figure 5.11), but
income of RMB10,000 to RMB20,000, which peer loans (65%) was to meet daily short-term most had some form of trade credit line
was the highest response at this income range. cash flow needs (Figure 5.9). Most had (Figure 5.12). Trade credit lines with trading
short-term loan needs of less than 12 months partners were the most common form of credit
Small and micro business borrowers (87%) with the largest share (39%) seeking line (48%), followed by non-bank credit lines
The registered or operating capital of business loans for three to six months. The most (39%) such as with AliFinance, the micro-credit
borrowers enterprises was very modest: the common interest rate range was between 8% arm of Alibaba, and bank credit lines (22%).
largest proportion (39%) reported between and 12%. While the largest group of business Most business borrowers had a formal written
RMB100,000 to RMB500,000, and the next borrowers (36%) were borrowing at the business plan (70%), most had financially
largest proportion (22%) reported between RMB3000 to RMB 5000 range, the loan value trained or qualified person in charge of
RMB1m and RMB5m. Most business borrowers range was also evenly spread and included business finances (61%), and reported that the
reported very low business revenues for their loans at higher values. produced regular management accounts (57%).
Figure 5.9: Main loan purpose (n=23) Figure 5.10: What factors do you think can lower your PaiPaiDai loan
interest rate? (n=23) multiple response
Other 4% Site visits to borrowers
4%
from loan officers
Accumulate credit ranking 9% Good loan payment transactions
87%
on the PaiPaiDai platform
Entrepreneurship 4%
Details central bank personal
Expand production scale 4% or business credit report,
57%
eg showing that the enterprise
Holiday or season stocking 13% has a good debt ratio
More detailed business
Daily short-term cash flow 65% operating information 70%
eg Taobao transaction history
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Figure 5.11: Have you borrowed from other financial institutions or Figure 5.12: What other type of finance does your firm use (n=23)
entities? (n=23) multiple response
90% Other 9%
80% 78%
Property or equipment
financing leases 4%
70%
60% Bank loan or loan from
other financial institution 26%
50%
Other non-bank credit line
(eg Alifinance) 39%
40%
30% Bank credit line 22%
22%
20% Trade credit line with
48%
trading partners
10%
Insurance 9%
0%
Yes No 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
13 In addition to the 24 self-identified business borrowers, there were 24 individual borrower respondents who were borrowing to finance business needs, including working capital
or daily cash flow needs, and to start their own business ventures. A further 43 respondents who selected themselves as dual borrowers and lenders were also business owners.
14 The Peoples Bank of China (POBC) is Chinas central bank, and also maintains Chinas national credit-registry data centre.
The rise of peer-to-peer lending in China: 5. Survey findings from Paipaidai borrowers and lenders 19
An overview and survey case study
DUAL BORROWER AND LENDER Dual borrower and lenders tended to be loan-term needs were short, with the largest
RESPONSES (n=43) business owners proportion (47%) borrowing at three-to-six-
Most dual borrowers and lenders had their month terms (Figure 5.14).
The survey had 43 respondents who said they own business enterprises: 27% reported that
were both borrowers and lenders on the their business had been operating for Low loan threshold given as main reason
Paipaidai platform. The socio-demographic between 5 and 10 years. Most reported a very for borrowing online
profile of dual borrowers and lenders was low business sales revenue, with the largest The main reasons selected by dual borrowers
similar to other Paipaidai members: 78% were share of respondents (44%) reporting business and lenders for choosing internet finance
male, 69% were between 26 and 38 years old revenue of RMB20,000 or less. Their registered loans were the low loan threshold and easy
and 69% were tertiary educated, of which capital or online shop operating capital borrower auditing (73%) followed by the
36% were university graduates and the tended to be higher than that of individual choice of interest rates (63%). Most (60%)
remaining 33% were college graduates. Dual business borrowers. The largest proportion thought that the main way they could lower
borrowers and lenders income and (30%) reported registered or operating capital their interest rate for borrowing was by
residential housing asset profiles were closer of between RMB100,000 and RMB500,000. accumulating a record of good loan
to the profiles of those who were simply Most were employers: 36% had between five transactions. The most common reasons
lenders than the profiles of those who were and nine workers, while 33% had four or fewer. chosen for being unable to obtain timely
simply borrowers. More than half the dual There were also some larger medium-sized access to bank loans (multiple responses
borrowers and lenders (55%) reported a enterprises: 11% (four respondents) said they allowed) included strict loan qualifications
monthly income of between RMB5000 and had between 300 and 999 workers. (55%) and a shallow relationship with the
RMB10,000, while 21% reported a monthly banks (40%) (Figure 5.15).
income of between RMB10,000 and Borrowing to accumulate credit
RMB20,000. worthiness and for cash flow Most respondents (56%) said that they had
The most common reasons selected (multiple not borrowed from other financial institutions
The proportion of dual borrower and lender responses, see Figure 5.13) for borrowing by before, although as with other business
respondents who said they worked in private dual borrowers and lenders was to accumulate borrowers most also had some form of trade
businesses was 77%, compared with 63% for credit worthiness (77%), followed by meeting credit line (Figure 5.16) either with trading
individual borrower respondents, while 14% daily short-term cash flows needs (67%). The partners (42%), with banks (34%) or with other
said they worked in a public institution or in a largest proportion (40%) of dual borrower and non-banks such as AliFinance (32%). Most
government agency. The majority were lender respondents borrowed at interest rates dual borrower and lender respondents (76%)
property owners: 39% lived in their own home of between 8% and 12%, with the next largest reported having a formal written business
without a mortgage, while another 27% lived group (35%) borrowing at the 12% to 18% plan for their business, while 45% said their
in their own home with a mortgage. Nearly range. The borrowing amounts or loan values business produced regular written
half (49%) also said the most common way were mostly low, with the largest proportion management accounts and had a financially
that they travelled was by car, which is higher borrowing in the RMB3000 to RMB5000 range, trained or qualified person in charge of
than for the general population. and the next largest group (23%) borrowing in business finances. Three respondents (8%)
the RMB5000 to RMB10,000 range. Their said they had a formal finance team.
Figure 5.13: Main loan purpose (n = 39) multiple response Figure 5.14: Loan term needs (n = 42)
50% 47%
Accumulate credit ranking 77%
40%
Daily short-term cash flow 67%
30%
Expand production scale 31% 21%
20%
Holiday or season stocking 26% 13%
10% 8% 8%
Entrepreneurship 23% 3%
0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 3 months 3-6 months 6-9 months 9-12 months 12-18 months 18 months
or less or more
Figure 5.15: Reasons for being unable to obtain timely access to Figure 5.16: Types of finance used by respondents business (n = 38)
bank loans (n = 40) multiple response multiple response
Other, please specify 13% Bank loan or loan from
other financial institution 5%
Friendship with bank shallows 40% Trade credit line with
45%
trading partners
The banks efficiency 35%
Bank credit line 32%
Government policy reasons 25% Other non-bank credit line
34%
(eg Alifinance)
Some enterprise indicators
35% Insurance 42%
do not meet requirements
Property or equipment
Strict loan qualification 55% 21%
financing leases
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
6. Chinas peer-to-peer lending 20
regulatory framework
After allowing the rapid growth of internet credit information. Yet non-qualified financial
After allowing the rapid finance and peer-to-peer lending for some institutions, such as peer-to-peer lending
years, Chinas government brought in its first companies, had not had formal access the
growth of internet finance major internet finance guidance policy in national CRC or been required to provide
and peer-to-peer lending July 2015 (PBOC 2015a). The guidance their credit data. The guidance policy
for some years, Chinas policy is a broad framework that actively changes this rule and seeks to integrate
encourages the development of internet peer-to-peer lending providers and their data
government brought in finance platforms and is intended to into the national credit registry system,
its first major internet encourage innovation and support the following steps in this direction in recent
finance guidance policy steady development of internet finance with years (eg Jiang 2015).
moderately loose regulatory policies.
in July 2015 (PBOC 2015a). While the new regulatory requirements for
The key regulatory policy change for peer-to-peer lending providers are relatively
peer-to-peer lending providers is the light so far, CBRC officials have foreshadowed
requirement that they establish a third-party a number of policy red lines for the sector
depository system for customer funds with a (Hexun 2014, Xicai 2014). These red lines
qualified banking institution. This means include that:
customer funds for both borrowers and
lenders must be kept with a commercial bank, minimum registered capital requirements
rather than by the peer-to-peer provider itself will be imposed for internet finance
or with some other non-bank payment companies
institution. The custodian account acts as the
fund transfer mechanism between lenders capital pooling will not be allowed
and borrowers, and escrow, for all (only direct one-to-one lending allowed,
transactions between both sides. Custodian no fund pools)
accounts offer a greater degree of protection
for lenders and borrowers, and this new loan guarantees will not be allowed
requirement for peer-to-peer platforms will (on principle or investment)
consolidate the sector among those providers
who can secure custodian accounts with the providers must have experienced
banks. In line with the regulation on custodian management and credit-risk
accounts, the guidance policy also management teams.
appointed the China Banking Regulatory
Commission (CBRC) as the peer-to-peer These policies on ending provider loan
lending supervisory agency. guarantees on investor principals and
minimum capital requirements for providers
Following the publication of the guidance have not been implemented, as of
policy in July 2015, the government also September 2015. The capital pooling red
introduced new non-bank payments line seeks to maintain a clear line between
regulations, which place tight limits on direct peer-to-peer financing and traditional
non-bank third-party transaction sizes for banking. According to the guidance policy,
individual accounts that are not linked to providers should not act as credit
real-name individual primary bank accounts intermediaries engaging in enhanced
with qualified banking institutions (PBOC financial services, through the pooling and
2015b). One of the aims of this policy is to transformation of financial assets (PBOC
make it more difficult to conduct illegal 2015a). Rather, providers should restrict their
financing activities through non-bank activities to information intermediary
payments and financing channels, including services and to enabling direct one-to-one
peer-to-peer lending. lending. Although the red line against
capital pooling models appears in the
The guidance policy also brings peer-to- guidance policy, whether and to what extent
peer lending providers and their data into the this principal will be enforced by the CBRC is
central banks national Credit Registry Centre yet to be seen. Overall, the guidance policy
(CRC). Although the CRC was started in 2006, formalises peer-to-peer lending in China and
the system has major gaps in coverage. The imposes some basic requirements on
rise of online payments systems and internet providers, which will consolidate the sector
finance has brought an abundance of new while encouraging its further growth.
7. Conclusion 21
Operating revenue
No. of employees
(in million RMB)
Small 0.5-5
Micro <0.5
Source: P.R.C. Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, National Bureau of Statistics, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, On the
issuance of standards for SMEs plan type, [2011] No. 300, June 18, 2011.
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