There are new trends in the fast money that has been repeatedly "hot search" in the industry. On January 29, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that a number of industrial and commercial information changes occurred in the licensed payment institution Kuaiqian Payment and Clearing Information Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kuaiqian"), among which the legal person was changed from Fu Zhixiao to Zhang Yi. And in the past 2023, there has been a lot of news about fast money. In May 2023, it was rumored in the market that Quick Money would be "sold", and in July 2023, Fast Money received another fine from the People's Bank of China. Under the compliance controversy and the rumors of being "cleared", the new boss takes office, where will the fate of fast money go?
The vice chairman of the board of directors of Fast Money succeeded the legal person
Tianyancha information shows that there have been many changes in industrial and commercial information in recent days, including the change of the legal representative to Zhang Yi and the resignation of Fu Zhixiao; at the same time, Yang Xiaoshi and Min Zizhong took over the position of director of Fu Zhixiao and Yuan Shuai, and Tang Xiao withdrew from the position of supervisor. After the change, Yang Xiaoshi, Min Zizhong, and Zhang Yi were directors, and only Cao Yingying was left as a supervisor.
Image source: Tianyancha
According to the data, Zhang Yi used to be the vice chairman of Fast Money, and on January 11, 2024, he was changed to a legal person of Fast Money Financial Services (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.; Yang Xiaoshi was the assistant vice president of Fast Money, and Min Zizhong was the vice president of Fast Money, and also held positions in Wanda Microfinance.
In May 2011, Fast Money was one of the first to obtain the "Payment Business License" from the People's Bank of China, covering six payment business licenses, including currency exchange, Internet payment, mobile phone payment, fixed telephone payment, prepaid card acceptance, and bank card acquiring. After several changes, there are still three payment business licenses, namely Internet payment, mobile phone payment, and bank card acquiring, which are valid until May 2026.
At the end of 2014, Wanda acquired a 68.7% stake in Fast Money for US$315 million and won a third-party payment license. It is worth noting that since Wanda acquired Fast Money in 2014, Fast Money has changed its helmsman four times in seven years. The first helmsman Guan Guoguang cashed out and left the scene; the second helmsman Qu Dejun was rumored to have "lost contact"; the third helmsman Mu Ya was investigated for serious violations of discipline; and the fourth and fifth helmsmen are still working in the Wanda system.
What is the reason for the "blood change" of many senior executives of Kuaiqian this time? Insiders close to Kuaiqian revealed that the changes in legal persons and directors and supervisors are all normal personnel arrangements.
Su Xiaorui, a financial technology expert, said that judging from the resumes of the new legal person, directors and supervisors, on the one hand, they have rich experience in the financial technology industry, and on the other hand, they are also inextricably linked with Wanda.
Wang Pengbo, chief analyst of Broadcom Consulting, speculated that the change of senior executives of Fast Money may be affected by the promulgation of the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Non-bank Payment Institutions", which will trigger relevant changes in the company and may affect the normal progress of the company's strategic business.
Frequent fines and acquiring business that is being rectified
In addition to the company's ownership and senior management changes, in the past two years, Fast Money has frequently attracted market attention due to compliance issues.
On February 7, 2022, the administrative penalty information publicity form disclosed by the Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China showed that Fast Money was fined 10.04 million yuan and ordered to make corrections within a time limit for four illegal acts, including violating account management regulations, violating liquidation management regulations, failing to perform customer identification obligations as required, and trading with unidentified customers. Dang Xiaoqiang, then director, chief executive officer and general manager of Kuaiqian Payment and Clearing Information Co., Ltd., and Teng Shijun, then assistant vice president of Kuaiqian Payment and Clearing Information Co., Ltd., were fined for being responsible for violations of laws and regulations related to fast money.
After receiving tens of millions of fines, Fast Money responded that this penalty was the result of the problems found in the People's Bank of China's comprehensive inspection of Fast Money in 2020. Fast money has set up a special rectification team for the first time in that year, compared with the requirements of supervision, comprehensive and in-depth self-examination and rectification, formulated a detailed improvement plan, and completed the rectification of all problems in a timely manner while ensuring the smooth operation of the business.
In July 2023, the Hainan Branch of Fast Money Payment and Clearing Information Co., Ltd. was fined RMB 730,000 by the Haikou Central Branch of the People's Bank of China for three violations of the payment and settlement management regulations, including settling funds to merchants' accounts with different names, providing "T+0" settlement to unqualified special merchants in violation of regulations, and failing to perform the inspection responsibilities of special merchants in accordance with regulations.
In the investigation, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily found that there are many recommended posts about fast money POS machine handling and agency in the search platform. A POS agent told reporters that he is an agent of official direct docking, and there is a fast money POS machine that can be handled by individuals, and small and micro registration does not require a business license, and the rate is 0.6%, allowing cash-out operations.
"After registration, there will be a merchant name record in the clearing institution, and there will be no risk in swiping the card", the agent claimed, in addition, the machine has no deposit, the first payment does not deduct any fees, in order to ensure that each machine issued can be activated, it is necessary to collect 49 yuan to activate the deposit.
According to the relevant regulations, the direct sale of POS machines to natural persons and not for normal consumption will involve violations. Payment institutions also have the responsibility to supervise agents who condone POS machine cash-out operations. In response to the investigation, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily interviewed Fast Money, but did not receive a reply as of press time.
In addition, on the black cat complaint platform, the reporter noticed that many complaints pointed to the non-refundable deposit charged by the fast money POS machine and the deduction from the bank card for no reason. A consumer said, "When I handled the credit card machine, I said that there was no charge, but I received 198 yuan, and I said that I couldn't contact anyone after returning it to me in 6 months, and the customer service phone couldn't get through." The reply given by Fast Money was, "The problem you complained about is no longer our brand, nor is it our channel".
In the eyes of industry insiders, the outsourcing market of the payment industry is mixed, and the deposit problem may be caused by the false publicity of offline agents. However, the POS machine industry is not in chaos, and it should be clear that third-party payment institutions providing POS services should clearly indicate that there is a risk of illegal arbitrage, and monitor and stop fictitious transactions and illegal arbitrage in the process of using POS machines.
However, after a number of fines were issued, Fast Money also showed signs of rectification in its own acquiring business. In September 2023, Fast Money issued a "Business Closure Notice" on the Quick Money App, stating that "due to the company's business adjustment, the App (Quick Money Swipe) card swiping business (except for store cashiers) will be closed from September 19". This also means that the personal business of quick money is closed, and the cash-out is completely closed.
The reporter contacted another agent from the webpage of a fast money POS machine, and the other party said that the fast money POS machine has been "gone" for small and micro merchants for personal use, and only real merchants can do it. Another post published in September 2023 advertised that "the Quick Money POS machine is open to individual users for free, can be cashed out, and the bill is full of real and landable standard merchants". And now the agent said that "the POS machine of the fast money home has long been gone".
Compliance has always been a difficult problem for payment institutions and the acquiring market. "From the perspective of the reasons for the fines and penalties, the compliance shortcomings of fast money companies are precisely the hardest hit areas of violations faced by traditional third-party payments. Su Xiaorui said that fast money needs to seriously summarize experience, fully learn lessons, establish and improve the internal basic compliance system, and dismantle all aspects of business compliance to the specific responsible person.
Can we get out of the shadow of the "abandoned son"?
Back in 2014, Wanda made a high-profile acquisition of Quick Money. At that time, Wanda publicly pointed out that the strategic holding of fast money was of great strategic significance to the development of Wanda's financial business. Wanda will build an Internet financial ecological chain with Fast Money as the core, and make Fast Money a leading Internet financial enterprise in China.
However, in March 2018, Wanda Group announced that Wanda's network technology business had been completely stopped. In addition to Wanda Nettech, Wanda Finance, one of the four major sectors that was once pinned on high hopes, has also been renamed "Wanda Investment Group". Also at the beginning of 2018, there have been repeated rumors in the industry that Wanda plans to sell quick money, and potential buyers include JD Digital, Suning, Sinopec, etc., but they all ended in failure.
On May 31, 2023, some media quoted Bloomberg News as reporting that Wanda Group plans to sell the fast money third-party payment license for about 1 billion yuan, and potential buyers include companies such as ByteDance, but some buyers said that from the negotiation situation, there is still room for negotiation on the price.
In this regard, Fast Money responded to a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, "Fast Money Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wanda Group, and capital cooperation is a strategic choice for shareholders, and Fast Money Company does not know about the relevant situation. At present, the company's operation is normal, and various businesses are progressing in an orderly manner, and will continue to provide customers with convenient, efficient and safe payment services as always."
On the one hand, there are frequent fines and deposit disputes and illegal cash-out chaos that have been exposed one after another, and on the other hand, Wanda is eager to get rid of the "clearance", and Fast Money now seems to be in an embarrassing situation. Some industry insiders commented that whether it can get out of the shadow of becoming an "abandoned child" and continue to create value for shareholders and customers, and comply with relevant laws, regulations and regulatory requirements to ensure the compliance and stability of the company's business operations, while maintaining market competitiveness and vitality, all these questions will be left to fast money.
In Wang Pengbo's view, no one has ever "taken over" the company, which means that the business has not been recognized by investors. Now, on the one hand, the newly appointed legal person is also a senior executive of the company for many years, on the other hand, the main benefits of fast money include online payment digital services and bank card acquiring services, these two types of markets have gradually solidified, and the competition is relatively fierce, it is not easy to see new changes and break through the competition.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Yue Pinyu Dong Hanxuan