Rules tighten in e-lending to cut risks

The latest regulatory requirements for commercial banks' online lending facilitated by third-party partners will encourage fintech companies to cooperate with banks in customer acquisition and risk control areas, or form technology partnerships with banks while discouraging third parties to offer joint loans with banks, experts said.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the country's top banking and insurance regulator, issued a notice on Saturday outlining detailed requirements and quantitative indicators to further regulate commercial banks' online lending business, to promote healthy development of the business and effectively prevent financial risks.

According to the requirements, for each loan jointly offered by a commercial bank and a partner, the partner must provide no less than 30 percent of the loan funds. Third-party partners involved in joint lending are usually large internet platforms like Ant Group, an affiliate fintech company of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba.