After ant group, some credit businesses of Xiaomi’s small loan companies have also turned to Xiaomi consumer finance. The first financial reporter recently noted that the product service institution of “borrowing with the star” provided by Tianxing Finance (formerly Xiaomi Finance) app was changed from Chongqing Xiaomi microfinance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Xiaomi xiaodai”) to Chongqing Xiaomi Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Xiaomi consumer finance”). Relevant staff of “SuiXing borrowing” also confirmed to reporters that the change has officially taken effect since January 1 this year, but it has no impact on the borrower.
From the perspective of regulatory attitude and a series of new regulations, the rectification of licensed operations of various financial businesses on Internet platforms is imminent. Among them, microfinance and consumer finance businesses relying on Internet diversion are the focus of supervision, and the rectification of ant “flower chant” and “borrow chant” has been regarded as an important signal. However, up to now, not many Internet companies have their own consumer finance companies. Some Internet Finance practitioners believe that lending assistance through small loan channels may still be the main direction in the short term.
It is worth noting that due to the advantages of market prospects and cross regional operation, many urban commercial banks have made calculations for consumer finance licenses, while small loan companies are facing the dual pressure of operation and supervision, and the standardization and reshuffle of the industry are still continuing.
will the loan limit be affected if the “follow star loan” service organization changes ?
With the stricter supervision and the promotion of a series of rectification of ant group, every move of the Internet financial platform has attracted much attention.
On the home page of Tianxing financial app, its main personal credit product of “high amount, low interest rate and no mortgage” is prominently located. But just recently, many customers found that the service organization of this star product has changed from Xiaomi xiaodai to Xiaomi Xiaojin. Public information shows that Xiaomi xiaodai is wholly controlled by Xiaomi Finance (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Xiaomi Finance (Hong Kong)”), Xiaomi Xiaojin is held by Xiaomi Communication Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Xiaomi”) as the major shareholder, and another 30% of the shares are held by Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank Co.Ltd(601077) (hereinafter referred to as “Chongqing rural commercial bank”).
For the change of service institutions, the relevant staff of “borrowing with the star” responded to the reporter by telephone, saying that this change officially began from January 1 this year. The reporter noted that according to the “Tianxing financial user service agreement”, the contract signing objects of the registered users of the platform are still Tianxing Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Tianxing digital technology”), Xiaomi xiaodai, Shanghai Xiaomi Financial Information Service Co., Ltd. and other enterprises. Although “other affiliated companies of Xiaomi group” are mentioned, Xiaomi consumer money has not been clearly listed. However, on December 22, 2021, Tianxing finance integrated and upgraded its products / services. The correspondingly updated Tianxing financial privacy policy mentioned that the services related to the loan were jointly provided by Xiaomi Xiaojin and its cooperative financial institutions.
As the financial service platform of Xiaomi group, Tianxing Digital Division was upgraded from Xiaomi Digital Division (founded in 2013) in October 2020, and the corresponding brand and app names were adjusted accordingly. Enterprise investigation data show that the company is 100% controlled by Xiaomi commercial factoring (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., which is also wholly owned by Xiaomi Finance (Hong Kong). On the official website, Tianxing digital claims to be a digital technology service platform, mainly engaged in industrial financial services, personal financial services and capability output services. Previously, it was rumored that “the business line and team of Tianxing digital division were reduced”. However, according to media reports, Tianxing digital division subsequently refuted the rumor and said that the company only adjusted the organizational structure in the fourth quarter of last year and integrated the relevant business lines to form the digital industry finance department and the digital retail finance department, which consists of credit technology business department, comprehensive business department And international payment business department.
Taking the “borrowing with the star” product as an example, the reporter found after registration that at present, the maximum borrowing amount of the product is 200000 yuan, and the annual interest rate is 7.2% ~ 24%. If the identity of “small and micro enterprise owner” is successfully certified, the maximum loan amount can be increased to 500000 yuan. According to the above staff, in addition to the 360 ious that have been taken off the shelves, the cooperative institutions of the company’s products include not only immediate consumer finance, “I’ll lend” and other peers, but also many banks such as China Citic Bank Corporation Limited(601998) , China Minsheng Banking Corp.Ltd(600016) .
Before Tianxing finance, ant group launched the first shot in the rectification of small loan business, but whether it is “flower chant” or “borrow chant”, it reduced the loan limit of a large number of users while upgrading the service and isolating the brand. Among them, “Huabai” has become the exclusive consumer credit brand of Chongqing ant Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “ant consumer finance”), the credit line of most users has been reduced to less than 10000 yuan, while the credit line of “credit purchase” funded by banks and other financial institutions is closer to the original credit line. However, for the change of “borrowing with the star”, the staff member said that it had no material impact on the product itself and borrowing users, so the company did not make a special notice.
new regulatory regulations appear frequently , the rectification direction needs to be further clarified
In April 2021, the central bank, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of foreign exchange and other financial regulatory departments jointly conducted regulatory interviews with 13 network platform enterprises engaged in financial business, including Tencent, Du Xiaoman finance, JD finance, byte beat, meituan finance, Didi finance, lufax, Tianxing digital technology, 360 digital technology, sina finance, Suning finance, Gome finance and Ctrip finance, It also put forward rectification requirements for a number of prominent problems, including the need for licensed operation of financial business, return to the source of payment and disconnect improper links with other financial products, and the need for credit investigation business to be carried out through licensed institutions. At the same time, it proposed to carry out Internet deposit and loan business in compliance and prudence, strengthen financial consumer protection, supervise and standardize financial business cooperation with third-party institutions. Prior to this, the financial management department has jointly interviewed ant group.
The number of interviews has expanded from 1 to 14. In addition, the rectification of ant group has been officially launched in November last year. The service institutions of relevant credit business have shifted from ant small loan to ant consumer fund. It is generally analyzed in the industry that consumer credit will completely return to licensed institutions. Because small loan companies are approved and supervised by local financial regulatory authorities and do not have financial licenses, it has gradually become a consensus that relevant businesses should be taken over by consumer finance companies approved by the CBRC.
However, among the above 14 interviewed enterprises, only ant, Xiaomi and Suning have their own holding Xiaojin companies at present. In the tide of mergers and acquisitions brought by the constraints of urban commercial banks’ off-site exhibition industry, Suning Xiaojin is also facing the possibility of changing its owner, Bank Of Nanjing Co.Ltd(601009) just announced to acquire its controlling stake in early February. An internal staff member of the enterprise interviewed said that from the perspective of the situation in the industry, considering the differences in business volume and conditions of consumer finance companies, although Internet giants are taking the road of consumer finance, most enterprises can only use small loan channels to do loan assistance business in the short term.
However, under strict supervision, the loan assistance business is also facing heavy pressure. “Breaking the information monopoly” mentioned in the above interview means that the data of the platform is no longer used arbitrarily. As long as it involves financial business, it needs to cooperate with licensed credit reporting institutions.
At present, in addition to the credit investigation center of the central bank, China’s licensed credit investigation institutions also have Baixing credit investigation, PuDao credit investigation established by jd.com, Xiaomi and Beijing Financial Holding, and Qiantang credit investigation participated by ant group have also been accepted.
Earlier, in November 2020, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the Central Bank jointly issued the Interim Measures for the management of online microfinance business (Draft for comments), which not only made stricter requirements on the credit line, controlling shareholders, leverage ratio and the contribution proportion of joint loans, but also imposed strict restrictions on cross regional operations, The registered capital of online small loan companies has a higher threshold: no less than RMB 1 billion and needs to be paid in at one time. Among them, the registered capital of small loan companies operating online small loan business across provincial administrative regions should not be less than RMB 5 billion. Subsequently, the rectification of various platforms accelerated. At present, at least eight Internet companies, such as ant, Tencent, meituan, jd.com, Baidu, Suning, 360 digital and byte beating, have increased the capital of their small loan institutions to more than 5 billion yuan.
It is indeed a good model to follow the example of ant group to include consumer finance business into consumer finance companies, which is not only in line with the regulatory trend, but also free from the impact of the new regulations on online small loans. The reporter noted that Xiaomi xiaodai, as Xiaomi’s small loan platform, has not received a capital increase from shareholders so far, and the registered capital has been maintained at US $450 million (about RMB 2.846 billion). For the future fate of small loan companies, Dong ximiao, chief researcher of Zhaolian finance, believes that small loan companies do not have room for survival and development. The most important thing is to clarify their legal status and development orientation.
