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According to Caixin.com, recently, a piece of news has been circulating in the market about a customer’s death caused by an outsourced collection company that cooperated with Mashang Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Mashang Consumer Finance”) during collection. On August 15, 2024, a person from Mashang Consumer Finance told Caixin that no customer died due to collection, but an employee of the outsourced company responsible for collection was indeed taken away by the police and has now been released; it mainly involves the issue of personal information security protection, and the specific situation is still pending police investigation.

According to reports, the outsourced debt collection company involved in this case is Chongqing Xinmeng Technology Development Co., Ltd. The company was established in 2017 and its business covers accounts receivable outsourcing services. According to its official website, its clients include WeBank, Zhongbang Bank, Chongqing Fumin Bank, Chongqing Three Gorges Bank, as well as Meituan Microfinance, Jincheng Consumer Finance, Xiaomi Finance, Didi Finance, Suning Finance, etc.

Xinmeng Technology's wholly-owned shareholder is Beijing Zhongguancun Kejin Technology Co., Ltd., the second largest shareholder of Mashang Consumer Finance, whose controlling shareholder is Ningbo Gaoda Zhisheng Technology Co., Ltd., which holds 54.93% of the shares. The largest shareholder of Ningbo Gaoda is Zhao Guoqing, chairman of Mashang Consumer Finance, who holds 79% of the shares.

Public data shows that Mashang Consumer Finance was established in June 2015. Its major shareholder is Chongqing Department Store, which holds 31.06% of the shares. The second largest shareholder is Beijing Zhongguancun Kejin Technology Co., Ltd. (which is also the wholly-owned shareholder of Xinmeng Technology, which is in trouble), which holds 29.51% of the shares. Wumart Technology Group Co., Ltd. and Chongqing Bank hold 16.12% and 15.53% of the shares respectively.

In 2023, Mashang Consumer Finance's operating income was 15.795 billion yuan, an increase of 16.74%, and its net profit was 1.982 billion yuan, an increase of 10.85%. As of the end of 2023, Mashang Consumer Finance's total assets were 71.28 billion yuan.

From 2019 to 2021, the business and management expenses (including research and development expenses) of Mashang Consumer Finance were RMB 2.216 billion, RMB 2.360 billion and RMB 3.365 billion, respectively, of which the agency collection fees were RMB 1.036 billion, RMB 1.156 billion and RMB 1.501 billion, respectively, accounting for 46.85%, 49% and 44.6% of the business and management expenses, respectively.

It is worth noting that in June 2021, the Consumer Protection Bureau of the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a "Notice on the Infringement of Consumers' Legitimate Rights and Interests by Mashang Consumer Finance Co., Ltd.", pointing out that Mashang Consumer Finance had "seven sins" such as "exaggerated and misleading marketing and publicity, irregular product pricing management, irregular student loan management, imperfect partner management system, irregular joint loan management, and inadequate collection management". In March 2023, Mashang Consumer Finance was also fined 1 million yuan by the former Chongqing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau for reasons such as imprudent management of collection cooperation institutions.