Original title: Internet loans are more transparent in the collection of interest fees
China Consumer Daily reporter Nie Guochun
Recently, the State Administration of Financial Supervision issued the Notice on Further Regulating the Internet Loan Business of Three Types of Banks, including Joint-stock Banks (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), requiring joint-stock banks, urban commercial banks, and private banks to further standardize the Internet loan business, and put forward new requirements for index setting, self-management capabilities, cooperative agency constraints, and consumer rights and interests protection.
New regulations for three types of banks' online lending business
On July 17, 2020, the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Commercial Banks' Internet Loans, which set out clear requirements for banks' Internet lending business in terms of risk management system and access to loan cooperative institutions. On February 20, 2021, the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued the Notice on Further Regulating the Internet Lending Business of Commercial Banks, which restricts the content of online joint loans by banks, requiring that the proportion of capital contributed by the partner in a single loan shall not be less than 30%; The overall balance of the joint loan business shall not exceed 50% of the total loan balance of the Bank, and the Bank shall complete the rectification within the transitional period.
In February this year, the State Administration of Financial Supervision issued the "Circular on the Main Issues Concerning the Inspection and Development of Commercial Banks' Internet Loan Business" to major banks, saying that when conducting on-site inspections of some banking institutions recently, it still found some problems that need attention, mainly covering six aspects: operation control, "five autonomy" aspects, credit management, model management, cooperative institution management and consumer rights protection.
As to why the Notice was issued, the State Administration of Financial Supervision said in the document: "Some banks still have a series of problems in the development model of Internet lending business, risk management, and consumer rights protection. ”
To this end, the "Notice" put forward a total of 10 opinions in three aspects: establish a sound business philosophy and improve the business governance system; Adhere to the whole process management and improve the ability of independent risk control; Strengthen the management of cooperative institutions to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Broadcom Consulting, said that compared with large banks, the demand for Internet loans in the three types of banks is stronger, and the probability of "stepping on the red line" is greater, so it is also necessary to give priority to key supervision and self-examination of such banks.
According to the authority of the researcher of Han Kun Law Offices' Yichuan research team, although the direct target of the Notice is the three types of banks, and CITIC Baixin Direct Bank implements it with reference, with reference to the previous regulatory experience, the Internet loan business of domestic and foreign banks, branches of foreign banks, consumer finance companies, auto finance companies and trust companies is also likely to need to be "applied by reference", while cooperative institutions such as lending institutions, financing companies and insurance companies will also rely on the requirements of the financiers to "apply indirectly" to a certain extent.
Encourage banks to reduce dependence on the "five autonomy".
In recent years, some cooperative institutions with strong customer acquisition capabilities have been in a strong position in their business models, and small and medium-sized banks have been "forced" to cooperate with third parties in order to expand the scale of loans, and have been reduced to "capital channels". What can be done to change this? The Circular requires that in terms of establishing a sound business philosophy and improving the business governance system, the board of directors and management of the three types of banks should prudently assess the market environment, situation and development prospects, formulate plans suitable for the Bank, and avoid over-reliance on a single type of Internet lending business or a single cooperative institution.
At the same time, it is necessary to adhere to the whole process management and improve the ability of independent risk control. The "Notice" emphasizes that the three types of banks should adhere to independent operation and effectively improve their independent management capabilities in data acquisition, contract signing, credit approval, fund issuance, brand management and other links. Support and encourage all banks to continuously expand their self-operated channels, improve the efficiency of customer acquisition, and enhance their ability to directly serve customers.
"For the first time, the Circular mentions support and encouragement for banks to 'continuously expand their own channels and improve their ability to directly serve customers', which is a manifestation of emphasizing the independent operation of banks." According to the authoritative analysis, the "Notice" requires "effectively improving the independent management capabilities of data acquisition, contract signing, credit approval, fund issuance, brand management and other links" (i.e., "five autonomy"), so as to avoid excessive dependence on cooperative institutions on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is in line with the idea of "commercial banks independently verifying the true intention of borrowers" required by the "Measures for the Administration of Personal Loans", and the construction and improvement of banks' own business capabilities and self-operated channels may be the future trend.
Restrain the improper charging behavior of cooperative institutions
At present, some banks rely heavily on third-party cooperative institutions to acquire customers, ignoring the assessment of partners' fees and customers' comprehensive financing costs, and some lending institutions directly collect fees from borrowers in violation of regulations, bundle sales, etc., resulting in damage to the interests of borrowers. In addition, some internet platforms in the loan business do not protect the information security of lenders in place, and serious violations of customer rights and interests such as abuse of customer credit information and illegal collection are frequent.
To this end, the "Notice" emphasizes the need to strengthen the management of cooperative institutions and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
First of all, it is necessary to refine the requirements for the management of loan cooperation, urge all kinds of cooperative institutions to comply with the regulatory requirements for Internet lending and consumer rights protection, and improve the access and exit mechanisms. Second, strictly review guarantee credit enhancement institutions, and take the formation rate of overdue loans before substitution and compensation, the comprehensive financing cost of customers, and other circumstances as important evaluation criteria for guarantee credit enhancement cooperative institutions, and promptly take measures such as reducing the scale of cooperation and terminating business cooperation for guarantee credit enhancement cooperative institutions with obviously high above-mentioned indicators. Thirdly, the three types of banks are required to bear the main responsibility for the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers, and fully disclose to borrowers information such as the actual annual interest rate and annualized comprehensive financing cost of Internet loans. For online lending business with the participation of cooperative institutions, consumers should be clearly informed of the actual interest and fee collection rules and the recipient. It is necessary to strengthen equal consultation with cooperative institutions, restrain improper charging behaviors of cooperative institutions, and effectively reduce the comprehensive financing costs actually borne by customers. Finally, strengthen the management of collection, and increase the frequency of inspections for collection cooperation institutions where customer complaints are concentrated or rise rapidly, and actively use scientific and technological means to improve the quality and efficiency of inspections of entrusted collection operations. Cooperative institutions and relevant personnel with problems of violations of laws and regulations are to be severely punished by urging and deducting personnel performance, reducing the scale of cooperation, and stopping cooperation.
Li Xun, a researcher at Yichuan Research Team, said that the transparency of interest collection rules is related to consumers' right to know. The Notice more clearly discloses the composition of customer charges, and prefers front-end disclosure, so as to meet the requirements of "full disclosure" and "clear notification", which is also an important part of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
The reporter noted that at the same time as the new regulations were issued, the regulatory authorities also increased the punishment for violations of laws and regulations. Since the beginning of this year, at least three banks have been fined for their involvement in Internet lending business.
On April 15, the Changji Supervision Branch of the State Administration of Financial Supervision announced a fine of 600,000 yuan for the Changji branch of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, which was fined 600,000 yuan for violations of laws and regulations such as inadequate post-loan management of Internet loans. In January, Ningbo Yinzhou Rural Commercial Bank and Dongying Bank were also fined 5.6 million yuan and 400,000 yuan respectively, including violations of laws and regulations involving illegal Internet loan business and imprudent management of Internet loans.
Wang Pengbo believes that in the future, the supervision work should give priority to the key supervision and self-inspection of banks with strong demand and high risk of non-compliance, focusing on the compliance risks of retail banks and digital banks in the process of expanding business and integrating new scenarios, and increase penalties. At the same time, banks will be guided to use advanced technology to improve their self-inspection and risk control capabilities.