Chinese bitcoin exchanges OKCoin and Huobi have announced they will pause bitcoin withdrawals for one month; the companies report that the halted withdrawals will allow them to improve their anti-money laundering capabilities and improve their processes for mitigating fraudulent transactions. Source
China is reporting 478,000 individual cases of complaints with problematic P2P lending firms; accounts for approximately 4.5% of the investors in P2P; the report coincides with the country's fraudulent P2P lending activity; 1,300 platforms were named problematic in 2016 with 2,388 platforms in good standing. Source
Fintech is helping to increase consumer spending in China as lenders provide increased access to capital; these lenders are becoming more integrated with merchants and providing point of sale credit options; Dumaio is one example of a fintech lender that has been successful by adapting to market demand; real estate fintech platforms are also emerging in the country with Shenzhen-based Touchouwang offering domestic real estate investment opportunities and Beijing-based Uoolu offering foreign real estate investments. Source
Credit China Fintech plans to expand its investments in peer-to-peer lending and payment companies; it invests in companies in the fintech industry and has recently invested in Ping An Securities Group Holdings Ltd. and blockchain technology firm BitFury Group Ltd.; recent investments have caused some scrutiny from short seller Anonymous Analytics which negatively affected the stock price in December 2016; the firm's stock price has regained its value since then with a current market capitalization of approximately $3 billion; over the past three years the firm has raised HK$4.3 billion ($554 million) and it plans to acquire at least one more company in the first quarter of 2017. Source
India will be utilizing the world's largest biometrics database, Aadhaar, to implement smart health cards for its senior citizens; senior citizens will be receiving an Aadhaar-based smart card; the cards will include information on their health, healthcare and healthcare history; the Aadhaar smart cards will also have payment processing capabilities; the government will test the use of the Aadhaar smart cards in 15 districts during the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Source
In an opinion article, one investor shares emails that have been leaked at Chinese marketplace lender Yirendai (NYSE: YRD); leaked emails show the company's chairman requiring parent company employees at CreditEase to invest in a fund to purchase undisclosed US equities; the author states the fund is likely purchasing shares of YRD and presents his case for shorting the stock; the stock recently saw volatility following China's new regulatory guidance for P2P lenders. Source
Russia's Sberbank will integrate new artificial intelligence (AI) to replace 3,000 employees in its legal department; the AI solution follows comments from CEO Herman Gref in September 2016 which forecasted that 80% of the bank's decisions would soon be attributed to AI systems; as AI solutions evolve, regulators are considering industry standards and frameworks for changing labor markets. Source
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has announced a consultation process that will begin to set a framework for P2P lending; following the consultation process the regulator is likely to begin issuing licenses for P2P lending businesses; the regulators initiative would provide for a new source of funding for borrowers and would also help to support small businesses. Source
Asset allocation is an emerging concept increasingly being introduced to Chinese retail investors who have historically invested in highly volatile markets; CreditEase is one fintech company in the region seeking to educate and support more strategic investing through robo advisory services; the fintech company launched its Toumi robo adviser service in May 2016; the automated service provides advice for clients based on age, risk aversion and other preferences; it offers stable returns with low fees; with numerous cases of fraud from fintech investing in China more of the retail population is interested in safer robo advisory investment options; the country currently has approximately RMB 100 trillion ($14.5 trillion) in personal investable assets with nearly all the major banks developing new robo adviser services. Source
European online lender Spotcap has received A$20 million (USD$15.15 million) from New Zealand Bank, Heartland; Spotcap has also launched its platform in New Zealand and will be accelerating growth in Australia, helping to expand its business in the Asia Pacific region; Spotcap's lending targets small and medium enterprises with credit lines and loans of up to $250,000. Source