International Tuition Payment Platform Easy Transfer Receives Tens of Million Yuan in Series A Financing
This week, Easy Transfer announced that it has won tens of millions yuan in Series A financing, which was led by Zhen Fund and followed by IDG Capital. It is reported that this round of investment will be mainly used for product development, team-building and marketing.
Easy Transfer was established in Beijing in March 2013. It is a platform of tuition payment for Chinese students studying abroad. When it is necessary to pay the tuition fee, parents can log in to the website of Easy Transfer to fill in the name of the school and follow the instruction by filling in other information (e.g. the amount of the fees, purpose, and proof of upload payment). The overall experience is similar to a one-time online shopping payment. Besides, all payments could be done in RMB, without the need to exchange the money for foreign currency.
According to its official data, Easy Transfer is expected to serve 90,000 Chinese students in 2018, and the coverage of freshman-market will reach 20%. In addition to the payment business, Easy Transfer has officially established its consumer finance program this year and has jointly issued Evoke student credit cards with a number of Chinese banks.
Apart from that, Easy Transfer also signed 3,000 merchants where Chinese students frequently visit and offer Cash Back and related financial derivatives for them. (Source: Lieyun)
[clickToTweet tweet=”Easy Transfer is expected to serve 90,000 Chinese students in 2018 #Fintech” quote=”Easy Transfer is expected to serve 90,000 Chinese students in 2018 #Fintech”]
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is Expected to License Virtual Banks by the End of this Year
On May 31st, Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued the revised “Virtual Bank Recognition Guidelines”. The president of the HKMA, CHAN Tak-Lam, said that some interested parties have begun to submit applications to the HKMA. HKMA will carefully and quickly assess the applications and is expected to license virtual banks by as early as the end of this year.
The minimum paid-up equity requirement for virtual bank applicants is HK$300 million. HKMA has pointed out that the minimum paid-up capital requirement of HK$300 million is a statutory requirement set out in the Banking Ordinance and applies to all licensed banks.
The HKMA considers it impossible and inappropriate to reduce the minimum capital requirement for companies licensed to operate virtual banks. Since the announcement in last September of encouraging the introduction of virtual banks in Hong Kong, more than 50 companies have made inquiries to the HKMA and expressed interest in operating virtual banks in Hong Kong. (Source: yicai)
[clickToTweet tweet=”The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is Expected to License Virtual Banks by the End of this Year #Fintech #ChallengerBanks” quote=”The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is Expected to License Virtual Banks by the End of this Year #Fintech #ChallengerBanks”]
Consumer Finance Company Dauron Secures Tens of Million Yuan in Pre-A Round of Financing
Dauron, an online consumer finance company, announced that it had received tens of million yuan in Pre-A round of financing from Jingbei Investment and Wanrui Factoring.
After this round of investment, the valuation of Dauron has surpassed 100 million yuan. Dauron was established in 2016 with registered capital of 23.53 million yuan.
This Chengdu-headquartered Fintech startup has generated over 300-million-yuan loans since its establishment. In the future, Dauron is planning to focus on second and third-tier cities in the middle and western regions of China, where major consumer finance players have yet to dominate. (Source：36Kr）
[clickToTweet tweet=”#Fintech startup has generated over 300-million-yuan loans since its establishment #China #Dauron” quote=”#Fintech startup has generated over 300-million-yuan loans since its establishment #China #Dauron”]
CBRC-CIRC Carries Out Special Inspection Towards Shadow Banking
It is reported that the China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) is conducting spot checks on financial institutions such as trust companies nationwide. The inspection will focus on two aspects: the first is to check the implementation of “Notice on Further Deepening Market Regulations in the Banking Industry”; the second is to carry out special inspection on shadow banking and cross-finance.
This round of inspections is led by the China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission and supported by various local banking supervision bureaus. (Source: China Securities Journal)
WeiyangX is the most influential website focusing on Fintech in China. The site covers the latest news, industry data analysis, business practices, and in-depth fintech cases in fintech. WeiyangX is incubated by Fintech Lab. Founded by Tsinghua University’s People’s Bank of China (PBC) School of Finance in 2012, the Fintech Lab is the first and leading research entity dedicated to leading best practices, promoting interdisciplinary innovation, and encouraging entrepreneurship in the field of fintech through scientific research and innovative project incubation.