Hong Kong financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has announced that tokens issued via initial coin offerings (ICOs) may be classified as securities; the classification may extend beyond ICOs into digital asset exchanges dealing in the tokens. Source
Silicon Valley Bank has a joint venture partnership with Shanghai Development Bank Co. Ltd; the partnership led the bank to open its first Chinese branch in Shanghai in 2012 and the firm has now announced their second location in Beijing; the banking branch in Beijing has 14 employees and will offer services for companies in technology, private equity and venture capital which are a key focus for Silicon Valley Bank globally. Source
Chinese regulators are preparing new rules that target the businesses of the country's small-loan lenders; recent rules have capped P2P loans at Rmb200,000 ($28,925) for an individual and Rmb1 million ($144,626) for a company however small-loan lenders fall far below these thresholds and regulators fear the companies do not have adequate risk controls; 2016 data shows China has 8,673 small-loan companies with loans totaling Rmb927 billion ($134.1 billion) and this is in comparison to approximately Rmb673 billion ($97.3 billion) outstanding from P2P lenders; China's small-loan lenders are active in the market, offering a range of lending solutions and reporting small-loan asset securitizations of Rmb82 billion ($11.9 billion) in 2016; as the country continues its focus on tightening regulation for China's P2P lending industry, Li Junfeng, director of the financial inclusion department at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, says it will be specifically addressing new regulations that target the country's small lenders. Source
Chinese startup Niu Jiao Suo is connecting Chinese investors with foreign mutual funds; investors can currently access funds offered by Blackrock, Vanguard, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs; investors are limited by $50,000 per year but can start with as little as $400; interestingly Niu Jiao Suo is not managing its users money and focuses on ensuring users don't exceed the $50,000 limit; according to Crowdfund Insider: "After funds are deposited into a user's account, the money is sent directly to a custodial account managed by DBS Bank. Niu Jiao Suo's primary role is conducting due diligence on the users to make sure they have a clean background and are not US citizens." Source
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[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from GUO Zhenzhou, Founder & CEO of Quark Finance. Quark Finance is a Bronze Sponsor...
Shareholders and regulators have approved Sichuan XW Bank as the new name for one of China's newest online banks; Sichuan XW Bank is supported with capital by Xiaomi, an electronics and home appliances manufacturer; its leading competitors in the online banking market in China will be WeBank and MYBank. Source
China's internet giant Sina has established a $500 million fund (Online Finance Fund) to invest in Chinese fintech companies that sell wealth management products and insurance services; the fund will cooperate with startups as well as established financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, Sina CEO Cao Guofeng says. Source (Chinese)
As of September 2016, WeChat had 768 million active users; the service is owned by Tencent; social cash sent to users through customized red packets or red envelopes has been one factor driving increased usage; WeChat has also been helping fuel a cashless society with 300 million users using WeChat Pay; expanding features and red packet promotional efforts have helped the company report an estimated value of $80 billion which is approximately half of Tencent's market cap. Source
Zane Wang shares the contrast of consumer finance in the US and China from 2000 to 2017; in 2000 China had no credit bureau, no decisioning engines but there was a vast market opportunity; this is the opportunity that China Rapid Finance has capitalized on; in recent years there have been many developments in China with more people covered by the credit bureaus and in consumer finance/credit cards; Wang shares the tremendous growth potential that still exists in the Chinese market and their focus on the emerging middle-class mobile active. Source
Tencent has launched its credit scoring service, Tencent Credit Score, Tencent's counterpart to Ant Financial's Sesame Credit; for now, only QQ Vips can have access to their score (QQ is a social network tool developed by Tencent, popular among teenagers); credit scores range from 300 to 850; the score measures a person on five different aspects including credit history, security, wealth, consuming habits and social network. Source (Chinese)