中国暂停审批网络贷款公司

China has halted all approvals for new online lending companies, sending a chill through the country’s fast-growing fintech sector, which has produced some of the biggest and most well subscribed offshore listings this year.

中国已停止审批新的网络贷款公司，使国内快速发展的金融科技行业感受到一股寒意。该行业今年涌现了一些规模最大、受到最踊跃认购的境外上市交易。

The regulations came from a new state body set up to regulate internet finance. The rules also forbid fresh approvals of offline microlending companies that lend across provinces.

这些规定来自一个负责规范互联网金融的新的政府机构。规定还叫停了对线下小额贷款公司跨省放贷的审批。

Existing companies will be allowed to continue operating but may see their operations more heavily regulated.

现有的公司将被允许继续运营，但可能会看到他们的运营受到更严格的监管。

Online lenders have faced criticism for extending loans without proper due diligence, adding to China’s bad-debt troubles. Some online lenders are thinly veiled scammers, offering high interest, short-term loans to vulnerable borrowers and employing unorthodox collection methods, such as demanding nude selfie photographs, as collateral.

在线贷款机构近来面临批评，被指在没有进行适当尽职调查的情况下发放贷款，加剧中国的坏债问题。一些在线贷款机构是几乎不加掩饰的骗子，向弱势的借款人提供高息短期贷款，并采用非正统的追讨方式，比如要求自拍的裸照作为抵押品。

“[Regulators] are very scared that a lot of these firms have very little internal control and serious oversight as to who they are lending money,” said Christopher Balding, a professor at Peking University’s HSBC Business School.

“（监管机构）非常害怕，因为这些公司许多都没有什么内控机制，对他们向谁放贷也没有认真的控管，”北京大学汇丰商学院教授克里斯托弗?鲍尔丁(Christopher Balding)表示。

The announcement caused shares for some of China’s biggest fintech companies listed abroad to drop overnight.

《关于立即暂停批设网络小额贷款公司的通知》导致在境外上市的中国一些最大的金融科技公司股价隔夜下跌。

Chinese online insurer ZhongAn, which raised $1.5bn in an IPO last month in Hong Kong, dropped as much as 4.8 per cent on Wednesday.

中国在线保险公司、9月在香港通过首次公开发行(IPO)筹得15亿美元的众安(ZhongAn)周三下跌4.8%。

Online microlender Qudian, which raised $900m on the NYSE last month, saw its shares tumble as much as 16 per cent Tuesday in reaction to the news, before recovering. Ppdai, another online microlender that raised $221m on the Nasdaq earlier this month, ended Tuesday down 14 per cent.

在线小额贷款机构、上月在纽约证交所(NYSE)筹得9亿美元的趣店(Qudian)，周二在消息传出后股价一度大跌16%，之后才收复失地。另一家在线小额贷款机构、本月早些时候在纽约证交所筹得2.21亿美元的拍拍贷(Ppdai)，周二下跌14%。

The share values of both Qudian and Ppdai were also hit earlier in the month by allegations they had misrepresented their business models.

趣店和拍拍贷的股价在本月早些时候就曾受到打击，原因是它们被指对自己的商业模式有不实陈述。

Investors have shown strong interest in fintech despite Beijing’s regulation of the sector, with some of the most valuable IPOs in New York and Hong Kong this year driven by Chinese fintech.

尽管北京方面对该行业进行监管，但投资者对金融科技板块表现出强烈兴趣，今年纽约和香港一些最大的IPO就是由中国金融科技企业进行的。

Over the past year, companies such as Xiangyuan Culture Group, a Shanghai-listed entertainment and leisure company, and Renhe Pharmacy Group, a Shenzhen-listed firm, announced plans to spin off an online micro-lending unit.

还有一些公司在过去一年宣布了设立在线小额贷款业务的计划，如上海上市的娱乐休闲公司祥源文化以及深圳上市的仁和药业(Renhe Pharmacy Group)。

China has seen its fintech sector grow rapidly as consumers increasingly turn to online platforms seeking credit. China does not have a standard credit rating system, making it difficult for borrowers and small businesses to receive loans.

随着消费者越来越多地转向在线平台寻求信贷，中国的金融科技行业迅速成长。中国没有一个标准的信用评级体系，使得借款人和小企业难以获得贷款。

About 40 per cent of consumers in China make payments online, and 14 per cent have gone on the web to borrow money, according to DBS.

星展银行(DBS)数据显示，中国约有40%消费者在网上进行支付，同时有14%上网借钱。

Yet fintech’s fast growth has prompted a reactionary wave from financial regulators, who have tightened scrutiny this year after a spate of fraud and financial collapses within the peer-to-peer lending space. The new oversight body includes China’s central bank and banking regulators.

然而，金融科技的快速增长引发了金融监管机构的反弹。在P2P贷款领域发生一连串欺诈和财务崩溃事件后，监管机构今年加强了关注。新的监督机构由中国央行和银行业监管机构组建。

“These are not companies with natural segues into the lending world so one of the natural worries is no one knows where this money is going,” said Prof Balding.

“这类公司并没有进入贷款业务的天然使命，所以人们的一个担心就是没有人知道钱的去向，”北京大学汇丰商学院的鲍尔丁教授表示。