26 executives associated with Ezubao were on trial this week in China; the fraud case included Anhui Yucheng and Yucheng Global, operators of the online platform, along with other company executives and platform employees; Ezubao has reportedly taken in over 50 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) in fraudulent investments through two platforms Ezubao and Sesame Financial; a final result in the case has not yet been announced. Source
MaiziJinfu, a Chinese Internet-based financial services provider, has raised funds in a Series B funding round; Huang Darong, CEO and chairman of MaiziJinfu, said, "The new fund will be used to incubate upgraded internet finance products as well as to further the company's talent development."; the announcement was made at the Internet Finance Development and Innovative Application Forum in Shanghai; MaiziJinfu has served over two million clients from diverse industries, with approximately 20 billion RMB of funding; it is also the parent company of UniFi which offers a financing product for international students in the US and Canada, supporting them with funding for various purposes that is difficult to obtain because they lack standard Social Security records. Source
The LendIt team is excited to return to China for our second annual Lang Di Fintech conference on July 15...
Tencent has reported plans in a white paper for the development of a blockchain platform; the firm says it plans to use the platform for offering digital asset management, authentication and shared economies, among other services; the firm also says the platform will help it to collaborate with other firms; in its white paper, Tencent also advocates for blockchain development and government integration in China. Source
Chinese P2P lender Dianrong is looking to implement blockchain across their entire company to enhance transparency and security for their customers; this is in addition to a recently announced partnership with Taiwan-based Foxconn to launch a blockchain startup called Chained Finance; according to CoinDesk Dianrong's blockchain plans are detailed on their website and they explain using an ethereum-based solution designed to facilitate tamper-proof loan contracts, donations to charity and credit management; Dianrong is also rumored to go public sometime in the near future, though IPO talk has been discussed for a few years. Source
The fund, which was set up as storage for excess cash from online spending, has now reached $165.6 billion in assets under management; this now exceeds the amount of JP Morgan's largest money market fund which is $150 billion; since the fund is so big it allows Ant Financial, Alibaba affiliate, to negotiate better rates with banks for capital; while many believe the likes of Google and Facebook could enter the market they have yet to do so. Source
Ning Tang, founder and CEO of CreditEase, has received the China Financial Literacy Distinguished Contribution Award; the honor was awarded at the 2nd China Financial Literacy Annual Conference; as an institution, CreditEase was also honored with the China Financial Literacy Distinguished Contribution Award; the awards recognize Ning Tang and CreditEase for their broad commitment and contribution to financial inclusion, wealth management, fintech innovation and public financial education. Source
Shanghai Securities News reported on market statistics and a continued commitment by Chinese authorities this week to manage fraudulent financing activities in the country; 5,197 new criminal cases were reported in 2016 involving 251.1 billion yuan ($36.5 billion); Yang Yuzhu, a Chinese regulatory director involved with a meeting of regulators, says, "The cases severely destroyed the order of financial markets."; in 2016 China approved the arrest of over 9,000 people on suspicion of illegal solicitation of public deposits and it prosecuted over 14,000; regulators plan to continue with enforcement action; they are also considering prohibiting organizations and individuals from publishing investment-related advertisements and are requesting provincial governments to closely examine potential illegal funding activities from May to July. Source
China's fintech sector is growing with new technologies and companies developing solutions for payments, loans and online investing; Forbes provides details on the market and discusses challenges; while the market has been conducive to new innovation, tighter regulations could be a factor and a lack of skilled workers could also affect the market's development. Source
Chinese online lender Dianrong has reported plans for a merger with Quark Finance; the merger will create a broadened set of credit offerings; Dianrong is known as the "Lending Club of China" and Quark Finance offers a range of financial services for consumers and small business owners. Source