The 2019 "Xi'an Benz Incident" pushed Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance") to the cusp. After more than two years, a circular issued by the Consumer Rights protection bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (hereinafter referred to as the "CBIRC Consumer Protection Bureau") on February 10 once again brought Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance back to the public eye.
Through on-site inspection, the Consumer Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission found that Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance had four violations of the legitimate rights and interests of consumers: "the standard terms authorized for the use of consumer information did not follow the principles of legality, legitimacy and necessity", "the promotional materials did not clearly state the provider of the loan product", "the information disclosure of the service price did not meet the requirements" and "the implementation of the review of consumer rights and interests protection was not in place". In order to improve the transparency of financial supervision, strengthen market supervision and constraints, and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of financial consumers, the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has publicly notified mercedes-Benz Auto Finance.
According to public information, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance was established in September 2005 as an enterprise jointly funded by Daimler AG (hereinafter referred to as "Daimler Co., Ltd.") and Daimler Greater China Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Daimler Greater China"), with an initial registered capital of 500 million yuan. Since its establishment, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance has increased its capital and shares several times, of which after the capital increase of 2.621 billion yuan and 1.5 billion yuan in 2015 and 2018, the registered capital increased to 6.983 billion yuan (all paid-in). As of the end of 2020, Daimler And Daimler Greater China held 52.20% and 47.80% of the shares of Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance, respectively; at the same time, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance had 567 employees, and the overall business network covered 677 dealers in 270 major cities and 233 surrounding cities in China.
The contract has been terminated, but the authorization clause for the collection and use of consumer information continues to be in force
This circular shows that in terms of the authorized use of consumer information, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance failed to protect consumers' independent choice. According to the specific introduction of the Consumer Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, during the inspection period from May 2019 to December 2020, the "Auto Loan Mortgage Contract" provided by Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance and signed with consumers stated that the consumer authorized the company to collect, disclose and allow it to use consumer information to any company in its group, a third-party institution authorized by other lenders or providing services to lenders. This authorization clause shall continue to be valid for the duration of the contract and upon termination or rescission of the contract.
The Consumer Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission believes that the above-mentioned provisions on the scope of disclosure of consumer information and the length of time to use consumer information stipulate that Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance did not follow the principles of legality, legitimacy and necessity, and did not comply with relevant regulations.
In terms of publicity, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance has also failed to effectively protect consumers' right to know.
Still according to the example of the Consumer Protection Bureau of the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the promotional materials of the "'Can't Hide' Series GLA Circle of Friends Poster - Universal Edition" provided to dealers by Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance in July 2019 put the company's loan products and mercedes-Benz Leasing Co., Ltd. leasing products on the same page, but did not clearly state that the loan product provider was Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance.
In addition, in January 2020, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance provided dealers with the "Yes Series Circle of Friends Poster" promotional materials, in the name of "Mercedes-Benz Finance" to promote loan products and leasing products at the same time, but only prompted "'Mercedes-Benz Finance' refers to Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance and Mercedes-Benz Leasing". The promotional materials still do not clearly indicate the provider of the loan product. Regarding the situation that occurred in the case, the Consumer Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission held that the behavior of Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance did not comply with the relevant provisions of the Guidelines for the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests in the Banking Industry.
The impact of the "Xi'an Benz Incident" appeared
In addition to this notice, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance received two fines totaling 1.2 million yuan from the Beijing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau on September 11, 2019 and December 3, 2021, respectively. In particular, more than two years ago, that is, in September 2019, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance was punished by the Beijing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau with an administrative penalty of 800,000 yuan for "serious deficiencies in the management of outsourcing activities", which is also the fine received by Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance after the "Xi'an Benz Incident" triggered by the female owner's rights protection.
In addition to the administrative penalties, the impact of this "past" on Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance was disclosed in the "Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Co., Ltd. 2021 Financial Bond Credit Rating Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Rating Report") released by United Credit Rating Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "United Credit") on May 28, 2021.
From the business module, the main business of Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance is composed of dealer financing business and retail credit business. However, according to The United Credit, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance has been affected by the "Xi'an Benz Incident" and the epidemic in recent years, and the overall business scale has shown certain fluctuations, especially the retail credit business. The latter is precisely the main source of income for Mercedes-Benz auto finance.
Separately, first of all, mercedes-benz auto finance's dealer financing business is mainly for Mercedes-Benz and Daimler's franchised dealers to provide vehicle purchase loans. According to the rating report, the Loan of Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Dealer is a revolving loan agreement, and the loan maturity date varies from 180 to 360 days after the loan activation date according to the type of loan vehicle (such as new car, test drive, used car, etc.).
From 2018 to 2019, the loan scale of Mercedes-Benz auto finance dealers maintained a growth trend, but in 2020, due to the impact of the epidemic, the demand for funds from Mercedes-Benz brand dealers has declined, resulting in a significant decline in the balance of dealer loans. As of the end of 2020, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Dealer Financing Business covered 460 dealers in 214 cities across the country, with a total loan of 6.683 billion yuan, accounting for 8.19% of the total loans and advances issued; there were no non-performing loans.
Secondly, the rating report shows that the retail credit business, which mainly provides individuals and customers with car purchase loan services for all Mercedes-Benz and Daimler brands, is the core business of Mercedes-Benz auto finance, and is also the main source of income of Mercedes-Benz auto finance.
In recent years, the down payment ratio of Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Retail Credit Business is about 40%, and the loan term is concentrated in about 2 years. As of the end of 2020, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Retail Credit Business has cooperated with 677 dealers in 270 cities. In 2018, the retail credit business of Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance expanded rapidly, but since 2019, also affected by the "Mercedes-Benz Xi'an Incident", mercedes-benz brand car sales have declined, resulting in a decline in the scale of its retail credit business.
As of the end of 2020, the retail loan amount of Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance was 74.916 billion yuan, accounting for 91.81% of the total loans; the non-performing loan ratio was 0.08%, mainly from individual customer groups.
Affected by the fluctuation of the scale of retail credit business, the interest income of Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Retail Credit Business showed a downward trend, and the retail credit business achieved interest income of 6.660 billion yuan, 6.271 billion yuan and 5.707 billion yuan respectively from 2018 to 2020.
According to the disclosure of joint credit, as of the end of 2020, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance achieved total revenue of 4.105 billion yuan and net profit of 1.805 billion yuan, but compared with 2.169 billion yuan in the same period of the previous year, a year-on-year decline of about 16.78 percentage points.
Beijing News shell financial reporter Huang Xinyu Editor Xu Chao Proofreader Liu Baoqing
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