Rumor: Shenzhen Halts Registrations of Online Finance Companies
Tencent Tech, 1/05/16
The Market Supervision Administration of Shenzhen Municipality has reportedly halted all new applications for commercial registration of internet financial companies for the entire city beginning January 1, 2016, according to a screen shot of a leaked document. Specifically, any company attempting to register a name containing the key words "internet financial services" or with a business scope including "relying on internet and other technological means to provide financial intermediary services" will be rejected. It does not appear that the ban will be lifted any time soon, but any currently registered and operating P2P lending platform or other online financial platform should not be affected by the change.
The new regulation is likely a direct result of recently proposed new rules for managing Internet loan information intermediary institutions, which will require regulatory agencies to create new definitions for the scope of business and the concept of internet finance. Another motivating factor could be the recent emergence of several problematic platforms, for which a suspension of new registrations is a possible response.
Editor's Note: For more information on the new online lending regulations, please see "China Proposes Regulations for Online Loan Information Intermediaries," MD 12/28/15 issue.
Keywords: Internet law regulation P2P financial services online lending
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