2024-08-25
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Interface News Reporter |
Interface News Editor | Jiang Yiman
After nearly four years, the micro-loan industry has once again ushered in major regulatory measures.
On the evening of August 23, the State Financial Regulatory Bureau issuedInterim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Microfinance Companies (Draft for Comments)(hereinafter referred to as the "Interim Measures"), which is another new industry regulation following the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Micro-loan Business (Draft for Comments)" in 2020.
A relevant person in charge of the State Financial Regulatory Bureau said:Since 2017, the approval of new online microfinance companies has been suspended nationwide. In recent years, the number of existing online microfinance companies has gradually decreased, from 224 in 2018 to 179 at the end of 2023. By the end of 2023, there were 6,550 microfinance company legal entities nationwide, with paid-in capital of 822.6 billion yuan and loan balance of 843.1 billion yuan. Among them, there were 179 online microfinance companies, with paid-in capital of 159 billion yuan and loan balance of 173.9 billion yuan.
The official said that althoughThe leading online microfinance companies have outstanding advantages in terms of capital, technology, and business management, but some microfinance companies have problems such as extensive business management and high credit risk. Chaos such as excessive marketing, improper debt collection, illegal charges, and leasing of lending licenses often occur.therefore,In order to promote the standardized and healthy development of the microfinance company industry, strengthen the coordinated supervision between the central and local governments, guide local governments to strengthen their regulatory duties, focus on continuous supervision during and after the microfinance companies, further refine and improve the regulatory rules, and form the "Interim Measures".
Jiemian News reporters noticed that the Interim Measures released this time did not directly stipulate the entry thresholds such as registered capital for the microfinance industry. Previously, in the 2020 Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Microfinance Business (Draft for Comments), it was directly stipulated that the registered capital of online microfinance companies must not be less than 1 billion yuan, and cross-provincial operations must be no less than 5 billion yuan.
The Interim Measures stipulate that microfinance companies are not allowed to conduct business across provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. The conditions for microfinance companies to conduct business across cities and prefectures shall be determined by provincial local financial management agencies. The conditions for the operating areas of online microfinance companies shall be separately stipulated.
The relevant person in charge of the State Financial Administration said that due toThe "Local Financial Supervision and Administration Regulations", which is the superior law, has not yet been issued.,therefore,Under the current legal and regulatory framework, the Interim Measures should not directly stipulate matters that require authorization from laws and administrative regulations, such as institutional access and administrative penalties. Therefore, the Interim Measures mainly refine the regulatory rules on the business operations, corporate governance, risk management, and consumer rights protection of microfinance companies.
This time,Interim MeasuresforThe conditions for the operation area of online microfinance companies shall be separately stipulated. The main considerations are: the Regulations on Local Financial Supervision and Administration have been included in the State Council2024The annual legislative work plan, the Financial Supervision Administration is currently pushing forward the drafting of the regulations according to procedures. After the regulations are officially issued, the Interim Measures will be revised and improved in a timely manner and formal supervision measures will be formed to clarify the market access conditions and procedures for microfinance companies, cross-regional business development of microfinance companies, administrative penalties and other matters.
also,To ensure the smooth implementation of the policy, the Interim Measures stipulate that microfinance companies should gradually meet the requirements of the various provisions of these Measures within the transition period specified by the provincial local financial management agency. The transition period shall not exceed 1 year, of which the transition period for online microfinance companies with a single production and operation loan limit of 10 million yuan shall not exceed 2 years. If an extension is indeed necessary, it shall be reported to the Financial Supervision Administration for approval.
In the just publishedInterim MeasuresThe following new provisions are added:The loan balance of online microfinance companies for a single household for consumption shall not exceed RMB 200,000, and the loan balance for a single household for production and operation shall not exceed RMB 10 million.。
Jiemian News reporters noted that the 2020 version of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Microfinance Business (Draft for Comments) stipulated that the loan balance of a single online microfinance company shall not exceed RMB 300,000 in principle, and shall not exceed one-third of its average annual income in the past three years. The lower of the two amounts shall be the maximum loan amount limit; the balance of a single online microfinance loan for a legal person or other organization and its affiliates shall not exceed RMB 1 million in principle.Interim MeasuresThe single-household consumer loan limit is no more than 200,000 yuan, which is consistent with the current single-household loan limit stipulated in the Consumer Finance Company Management Measures for licensed consumer finance companies.200,000 yuanConsistent.
The relevant person in charge of the State Financial Affairs Bureau said that this is mainly due to the supervision departmentAdhere to the functional supervision approach of applying the same regulatory standards to similar businesses to prevent regulatory arbitrage.In terms of consumer loans,The "Regulations on the Administration of Internet Loans by Commercial Banks" and the "Regulations on the Administration of Consumer Finance Companies" both set a limit of 200,000 yuan per household for personal consumer loans. Considering that most of the personal consumer loan customers of online microfinance companies are the long-tail population in the sinking market, setting a single-household loan limit of the same amount as that of licensed financial institutions can basically meet the needs of online microfinance company customers, and to a certain extent can also avoid irrational excessive borrowing and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
In addition, the official also stated,The "Interim Measures" do not distinguish between natural persons and legal persons in operating loans to online microfinance companies, and uniformly stipulates a maximum limit of RMB 10 million per household.thisThe main considerations are: First, adhere to prudent supervision and effectively prevent risks. Taking into full consideration the risk characteristics of pure online business and the risk management capabilities of online microfinance companies themselves, it is necessary to limit the amount of loans issued by online microfinance companies in a purely online manner to a certain amount per household. Second, benchmark the definition of similar loans in the banking industry. Inclusive small and micro enterprise loans in the banking industry refer to loans issued to small and micro enterprise legal persons, individual industrial and commercial households, and small and micro enterprise owners, with a single household credit amount of less than 10 million yuan (inclusive) and used for production and operation. Benchmarking this definition and setting an upper limit of 10 million yuan per household will help promote online microfinance companies to adhere to the "small and decentralized" business positioning. At the same time, in practice, it is common for small and micro business owners to borrow money in their personal names for enterprise production and operation. The same upper limit standard applies to personal and legal person operating loans, which is in line with industry reality.
In the "Interim Measures", the Financial Administration also stipulated the financing channels and financing leverage of microfinance companies, as well as the investment ratio of cooperative loan business.
Specifically,Microfinance companies can raise funds through non-standardized forms such as bank loans and shareholder loans, or through standardized forms such as issuing bonds and asset-backed securities (with loans issued by the company as underlying assets).in,For microfinance companies to issue bonds, they must have been profitable for three consecutive fiscal years and have obtained approval from the provincial local financial management agency.
In terms of financing leverage, it is stipulated that the balance of funds raised by microfinance companies through non-standardized forms such as bank loans and shareholder loans shall not exceed one time of their net assets. The balance of funds raised by microfinance companies through standardized forms such as issuing bonds and asset-backed securities shall not exceed four times of their net assets.
In terms of cooperative lending, microfinance companies are required not to outsource core businesses such as credit review and risk control; not to jointly invest in loans with institutions that do not have lending business qualifications; not to accept credit enhancement services or disguised credit enhancement services such as guarantee commitments provided by institutions that are unsecured and do not meet the credit insurance and guarantee insurance business qualification supervision requirements; the single investment ratio of a joint loan shall not be less than thirty percent.
also,Focusing on the key issues in the development and supervision of microfinance companies, especially improper marketing, illegal charges, renting out lending licenses and other operating chaos,The Interim Measures alsoLeasing or lending licenses, and providing lending “channels” for entities without lending business qualificationsNegative list of business practices.
In terms of loan interest rates, which consumers are most concerned about,The Interim Measures stipulate that microfinance companies should calculate the ratio of all interest and fees charged to borrowers to the loan principal as the comprehensive actual interest rate, convert it into an annualized form, and specify it in the loan contract, and shall not violate relevant national regulations. Microfinance companies should pay the loan principal to the borrower in full in accordance with the amount agreed in the loan contract, and shall not deduct interest, handling fees, management fees, deposits, etc. in advance, which puts forward higher requirements for their consumer protection work than peers.
A relevant person in charge of the State Financial Regulatory Bureau said:In response to the problems of induced lending, improper collection, and disclosure of personal information that consumers have strongly complained about in practice, the Interim Measures set up a special chapter to comprehensively regulate the protection of consumer rights of microfinance companies.,RequireBased on protecting consumers' right to know, right to choose, right to fair trade, and right to information security, the Company regulates microfinance companies' information disclosure, risk warnings, marketing and publicity, and collection and use of customer information.In addition,Strengthen the negative list management of illegal and improper behaviors, and clearly prohibit microfinance companies from bundling sales or attaching unreasonable conditions, listing loans as the default option for payment settlement, inducing excessive debt and multiple borrowings, and collecting debts by illegal or improper means.Finally,Strengthen the list management of cooperative institutions, ensure that the mobile applications (APPs), mini-programs, and websites of cooperative institutions are registered in accordance with the law, promptly identify and assess the risks that may be caused by violations of laws and regulations by cooperative institutions, and urge cooperative institutions to implement compliance management and consumer rights protection responsibilities.
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