[MONEY 20/20] China’s CreditEase to focus on hi-tech wealth management services

PUBLISHED : March 16, 2018 - 16:59

UPDATED : March 16, 2018 - 17:05

[THE INVESTOR] SINGAPORE -- China has gone from being a cash-dominant society to a global fintech powerhouse in a span of just 10 years. At the center of this development is CreditEase Holdings, a 12-year-old lending and investment platform in China, founded by Ning Tang, who is also its CEO.

CreditEase’s affiliate Yirendai was the first Chinese fintech firm to be listed on New York Stock Exchange.

Tang, ranked 166th on Forbes China Rich List 2017, shared his experience running the company -- which also represents the transformation of Chinese fintech industry -- in an interview with The Investor on March 15 on the sidelines of Money 20/20 Asia.

CreditEase Founder and CEO Tang Ning (right) Money20/20

“The stock price of Yirendai is doubling every year but this is not our goal,” he said. While describing the last 12 years as a period of providing opportunities for the financially underserved huge Chinese population in pursuit of financial inclusiveness, the future goal is to lead the domestic wealth management industry, Tang said.

“In the future, many people will live as long as 100 years and managing assets will become more and more important for Chinese,” Tang said.

“China’s wealth management industry is shifting away from short-term, fixed-income products to long-term, equity-based investments. This transtion is necessary because Chinese are becoming wealthier and many people will live longer.”

The industry is expected to reach 227 trillion yuan (US$35.85 trillion) by 2020, according to research by Beijing-based Renmin University.

Tang said he will use high technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to provide affordable wealth management services to customers.

For instance, CreditEase is exploring blockchain technology, the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies, for some of his products. While Tang might not have much trust in cryptocurrencies itself, he predicted that firms would continue to test blockchain technologies.

The company has been accumulating financial data for 12 years, something that will give it the upper hand in providing comprehensive financial investment services, he noted.

When asked about competition with other financial services firm such as Ant Financial, Tang said CreditEase differentiates itself through the quality and depth of its data.

“Our data is distinguished because it’s based on finance and systems,” Tang said. “Having and managing such big data is indeed valuable, but simply owning it is not enough to go the next step.”

Touching on the future of China’s financial industry, the CEO appeared to have high expectations despite the recently tightening regulations. “It was quite necessary, even if there are short-term pains,” Tang said. “It helps clean up the financial market and so it helps imagine a more hopeful future.”

As an investor, he said Chinese entrepreneurs are as rigorous as 15 years ago, except they are focusing more on investing in tech companies rather than new business models.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)

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