SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--China Rapid Finance (“CRF”), the leader in Chinese marketplace lending and credit decisioning, today announced that it has reached a company milestone – CRF is now the leader in unsecured lending to Chinese consumers over mobile devices, as measured by total number of borrowers.
CRF’s previously announced Chinese New Year campaign, has resulted in more than 300,000 unsecured loans made by mobile device to pre-approved users. In less than four weeks, CRF has become not only the first company in China to offer pre-approved instant loans over mobile devices, but also one of the largest online lenders in China.
On February 11th, 2015 CRF launched offers to 50 million pre-screened users on Tencent’s mobile QQ platform for pre-approved loans of 500 RMB (~US$80). The offers marked a first in China’s history, where most people do not have a credit score and have been difficult to pre-qualify as a result.
“We are delighted to see so many Chinese consumers take advantage of the credit offers we made over mobile devices,” said China Rapid Finance founder and CEO Zane Wang, PhD. “Today, these borrowers are enjoying affordable loans delivered to their mobile phones without paperwork or protracted wait-times. In the future, they also will benefit from having established a credit profile upon which lenders can offer additional loan products.”
More than 78 percent of Chinese people have no access to credit, according to People’s Bank of China. The major barrier to lending is a scarcity of credit information. In an attempt to overcome this barrier, several companies across the country recently have announced plans to develop credit scores for Chinese consumers based upon social and payment information.
“China Rapid Finance has long been able to marry online and offline data to determine a borrower’s credit worthiness, but today, they have leapfrogged over the competition,” said Joe Zhang, author of Inside China’s Shadow Banking: The Next Subprime Crisis?. “With 300,000 new loans made, CRF can determine more than their borrowers’ ability to pay; they are able to assess their borrowers’ willingness to pay. That sort of data cannot be easily replicated – nor can its power be underestimated.”
The newly-launched offers introduced during Chinese New Year were pre-dated by a pilot program spanning three months to an initial group of trial borrowers. More than half of that pilot group already have become repeat borrowers, indicating strong credit demand.
“The product we launched over mobile devices relied upon elaborate scoring systems we developed over the past decade and in 70 cities across China,” Mr. Wang continued. “The data we are collecting now will change the face of consumer finance across the country.”
About China Rapid Finance
China Rapid Finance (“CRF”) is a leader in marketplace lending and credit decisioning in China. With more than 4,000 employees and 70 branch offices, the company has one of the largest multi-channel offline and online lending platforms in China built upon proprietary advanced Big Data analytics technology, a proven track record in credit risk management, and a tradition of transparency and regulatory compliance.
Through CRF’s direct distribution channels as well as strategic partnerships with China’s technology leaders, CRF brings borrowing opportunities to a broad array of Chinese consumers – many of whom are accessing credit for the first time.
Founded in 2001 by CEO Zane Wang, PhD, CRF has played a critical role in transforming the Chinese consumer credit market for more than a dozen years. China Rapid Finance stands poised to deepen and broaden its leadership in the Chinese marketplace lending industry.
CRF’s home page is www.crfchina.com.