Rumor investigation of loan assistance supervision: The relevant departments have no "documents" and strive to block the improper connection between commercial and financial information

21st Century Business Herald reporter Chen Zhi reported from Shanghai

A stone stirs up a thousand layers of waves.

Recently, some media reported that the relevant Departments of China are preparing to formulate new regulatory documents for the loan assistance industry (hereinafter referred to as "regulatory documents"), including that loan lending needs to be directly issued through the bank side, and the lending institution may become a full diversion advertising company; the loan assistance platform needs to be diverted through personal credit reporting agencies; and the guarantee fee may be limited to about 2%.

"If the regulatory documents are introduced, the entire loan assistance industry will suffer a lot of impact." The person in charge of a lending institution sighed to reporters. These days, his lending institution is "panicked", and many employees are pessimistic about the future development prospects of the loan industry.

The reporter asked for verification from many parties, and a number of bankers involved in the loan assistance business said that they had not yet seen the relevant regulatory documents.

An informed source close to the regulatory level revealed to reporters that the relevant departments have not brewed the above regulatory documents, and the current supervision of the loan assistance industry by relevant departments mainly focuses on blocking the "improper connection" between financial information and commercial information, as well as preventing cross-product cross-market contagion of financial risks.

At the beginning of July last year, the Central Bank's Credit Bureau issued a notice to a number of online platforms, requiring them to carry out business cooperation with financial institutions such as drainage, loan assistance, and joint loans, and not to directly provide information submitted by individual users, personal information generated within the platform, and personal information obtained from the outside to financial institutions in the name of applicant information, identity information, basic information, personal portrait scoring information, etc. This is known in the industry as "disconnected direct connection", which aims to solve the problem of over-range financial business caused by the closed-loop effect of "data-network effect-financial business".

At the end of last year, the central bank issued the "Measures for the Administration of Online Marketing of Financial Products (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)", which pointed out that non-bank payment institutions are not allowed to provide marketing services for financial products such as loans and asset management products, and may not use financial products such as loans and asset management products as payment options in the payment page, and sell financial products such as loans and asset management products by default and one-click opening. This policy is a cross-product cross-market contagion of financial risks.

Previously, Yi Gang, governor of the Central Bank of China, pointed out at the International Conference on the Supervision of Large Technology Companies by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) that when China's leading platform companies carry out various services such as e-commerce, payment, and search, they obtain massive information such as users' identities, accounts, transactions, consumption, and social networking, and then identify and judge personal credit status, and cooperate with financial institutions in the name of "loan assistance", which is equivalent to carrying out personal credit reporting business without permission.

"The head platform company provides financial services such as wealth management, credit, and insurance under the same platform, which magnifies the possibility of cross-product and cross-market contagion of financial risks." Platform companies are also nesting credit businesses such as Huabei and borrowing in the payment chain, misleading consumers. Yi Gang pointed out.

The reporter learned from many sources that many loan assistance companies are actively seeking business cooperation with licensed credit reporting agencies in accordance with the requirements of "disconnecting direct connections" of relevant departments, and building a compliance sharing model of personal information of "network platform - credit reporting agencies - financial institutions". At the same time, some non-bank payment institutions have begun to no longer divert the flow of loan assistance products, but have become "joint credit card partners", and credit card institutions have intervened in the corresponding consumption scenarios to provide "credit services".

The above-mentioned insiders close to the regulator said that at present, the relevant departments are also concerned about whether the loan industry can further reduce the interest rate of products and better realize the "benefits" of inclusive finance.

"Although the loan assistance industry makes it easier for many individuals and self-employed/small and micro enterprises to access financial services, whether they can further reduce credit interest rates to support the development of the real economy, or a new focus for relevant departments to promote the development of industry norms in the future." He pointed out.

A false alarm?

As soon as the "regulatory document" was published, it triggered a strong concern in the lending industry.

"Many of our employees are worried about the future prospects of the loan industry." The person in charge of the above-mentioned lending institution pointed out to reporters that previously, financial institutions had license qualifications and capital advantages, and the loan assistance platform had quite unique advantages in the acquisition of assets, so the two sides spontaneously formed the existing industrial chain division of labor in the loan assistance industry, that is, the loan assistance platform was responsible for obtaining customer diversion, and financial institutions provided credit funds and core risk control to promote the continuous expansion of the scale of the loan assistance industry. However, if the "regulatory document" is introduced, the division of labor mechanism of this industrial chain will be completely broken, making the future development of the loan assistance platform more uncertain.

"We quickly communicated with the relevant departments and the cooperative banks for loan assistance, hoping to understand the background and regulatory requirements of the regulatory documents. But the latter informed that they had not yet seen the above regulatory documents. A business director of a lending institution told reporters.

It is worth noting that the relevant provisions of the "regulatory documents" have also triggered heated discussions in the loan assistance industry.

For example, the "regulatory documents" require lending institutions to become fully diversion advertising companies, or conflict with the current Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Loans of Commercial Banks and the Measures for the Administration of Online Marketing of Financial Products (Draft for Solicitation of Comments).

Previously, the Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Loans of Commercial Banks clearly mentioned that in addition to the core risk control links of commercial banks need to be independent, marketing customer acquisition, joint loans, risk sharing, information technology, overdue collection and other links can cooperate with third-party companies, which shows that the relevant departments affirm the role of the loan assistance market and encourage commercial banks to absorb new technologies in a cooperative manner to continuously promote the reform and innovation of the credit industry.

The recently issued "Measures for the Administration of Online Marketing of Financial Products (Draft for Comments)" also mentions that loan assistance platforms can engage in "providing cyberspace business venues, information interaction, and transaction matching", nor does it mention that loan assistance platforms need to become "full diversion advertising companies".

In addition, the "regulatory documents" require lending institutions not to retain personal information, which also makes the industry quite confused.

The reporter learned from many sources that the "Personal Information Protection Law" does not prohibit lending institutions from lawfully collecting and using user information, as long as the latter strictly implements the principle of "notification-consent" and collects and uses users' personal information within the scope of user authorization and consent; although the "Measures for the Administration of Credit Reporting Business" issued by the central bank requires information recipients such as loan assistance platforms and financial institutions to complete "disconnection" compliance rectification in the transmission of credit information, it does not prohibit loan assistance platforms from legally collecting and using user information.

"At present, the most controversial thing in the industry is that the guarantee fee is limited to about 2%." The business director of the above-mentioned lending institution told reporters.

A person in charge of a guarantee company agency revealed to reporters that at present, the guarantee rate they provide to the loan assistance business is about 3%-4%, and after deducting the corresponding bad debt compensation amount, their small and micro guarantee business can only achieve capital protection and small profits. If the guarantee rate is required to be limited to around 2%, they are likely to opt out of the market because this rate cap makes it difficult for them to protect their capital and profits.

"However, in the actual operation link, some self-employed households or small and micro enterprises that urgently need funds have a certain degree of repayment risk, if they can introduce guarantee institutions to provide credit enhancement, the relevant loan assistance funds will become smoother and more rapid, which will help solve the problem of financing difficulties for small and micro enterprises." A number of loan industry insiders said bluntly.

The reporter has asked for verification from many parties, and the relevant departments have not yet discussed the limit on the guarantee rate of the loan assistance business.

"At present, the supervision of the loan assistance industry by relevant departments is still mainly to promote the rectification of direct connection compliance, requiring loan assistance platforms to participate in personal credit reporting business in disguise without permission." The above-mentioned insider familiar with the regulatory authorities told reporters.

He also pointed out that the relevant departments are still paying attention to the problem of "inducing credit and excessive staging" in the field of loan assistance, so as to avoid some consumers from being too "easy" to obtain consumer credit funds for excessive consumption, resulting in a rapid increase in their own debt and some social problems; in addition, the relevant departments are also concerned about whether the interest rate of loan assistance products can be further reduced and more effectively promote the "benefits" of inclusive finance.

The regulation and supervision of the loan assistance industry has been steadily advancing

Although the "regulatory document" may be a false alarm, the supervision of the compliance development of the loan assistance industry by relevant departments is steadily advancing.

Following the central bank's credit management bureau's requirement that the loan assistance platform disconnect directly comply with the rectification, the "Measures for the Administration of Online Marketing of Financial Products (Draft for Comments)" recently issued by the central bank pointed out that non-bank payment institutions are not allowed to provide marketing services for financial products such as loans and asset management products, and may not use financial products such as loans and asset management products as payment options in the payment page, and sell financial products such as loans and asset management products by default opening and one-click opening.

In the view of industry insiders, the former is to block the "improper connection" between financial information and commercial information, to prevent lending institutions from not getting involved in personal credit reporting business according to permission, and the latter is to prevent cross-product cross-market contagion of financial risks by cutting off the "payment + credit" business chain, highlighting the intention of the central bank to implement the classification and supervision of financial business.

It is worth noting that the Jingdong white strip was upgraded to the "Jingdong white strip card" at the beginning of the year.

A person in charge of a third-party payment institution told reporters that the non-bank payment platform has become a "joint credit card partner", and whether it continues to provide credit services in its own consumption scenario while meeting regulatory requirements still needs to be evaluated and judged by relevant departments.

In his view, behind this, it may involve whether the rectification of related businesses can effectively enhance the independent customer acquisition ability and product competitiveness of financial institutions such as small and medium-sized banks.

Earlier, Yi Gang, governor of the central bank, pointed out at the International Conference of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to supervise large technology companies that the development of financial technology is challenging the business model and competitiveness of the traditional banking industry. At present, there are about 4,000 small and medium-sized banks in China, with limited resources, and can only rely on the technology and platforms provided by large technology companies for customer maintenance, credit analysis and risk control, which may weaken customer acquisition capabilities and product competitiveness.

"Whether it is a lending institution or a non-bank payment institution, whether it can truly empower small and medium-sized banks to enhance their ability to obtain customers independently and compete in products, rather than allowing small and medium-sized banks to continue to rely on large Internet platforms to develop Internet retail business, will be the new focus of attention of relevant departments." He thinks.

"At present, an important task of ours is to complete the rectification of the disconnection compliance as soon as possible." The person in charge of the aforementioned lending institution pointed out to reporters. At present, one of the major challenges they encounter is that credit reporting institutions are more inclined to take the lead in carrying out credit reporting cooperation with large-scale head platforms in the loan assistance industry, and the progress of credit reporting cooperation between small and medium-sized lending platforms is relatively slow, or the loan assistance industry presents a development situation of "the stronger the stronger, the weaker the weak".

In addition, individual lending institutions hope to work with credit reporting agencies to model with their relatively complete customer information, but this may lead to a certain impact on the independence and objectivity of credit reporting agencies' credit reporting work.

He told reporters bluntly that at present, they hope to complete the direct connection compliance rectification as soon as possible, to achieve the "network platform - credit reporting agencies - financial institutions" personal information compliance sharing model, after the completion of this work, the company will begin to further optimize the business strategy, one is through the precision marketing of big data, reduce the cost of customer diversion, so that the loan service fee is further lowered; the second is through the technical output, empower small and medium-sized banks to activate the existing customer resources, independently improve customer acquisition, retention, revitalization and other customer operation capabilities. Through technical cooperation, the business income structure of the loan assistance industry has been optimized, and the interest rate of loan assistance products has been further reduced.

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