중국 인터넷 신용대출 규제정책의 동향과 전망: “온라인 소액대출업무관리잠행방법안” 등 중국 온라인 신용대출 규제법규들의 주요 내용과 의의

A series of digital finance regulations have been announced recently in China that will place controls on P2P lending, online microlending, as well as other e-finance solutions. The clampdown marks an end to an initial ten-year deferral period on regulations, while also setting a milestone celebrating the growth of the local fintech ecosystem, driven partially by the regulatory sandbox. Online lending services in China found opportunity in a high-demand market that had yet to be fully covered by the country’s government-owned, slow-moving banks; catalyzed by political support, a regulatory sandbox, and a strong e-commerce and e-payments landscape, these services have grown dramatically to become some of the world’s largest. The absence of clear legal regulations, however, albeit intended, have given birth to reckless lending practices, excessive interest rates, overcrowding as well as bankruptcy of P2P lenders, fraud, and even debt collection methods involving violence. In particular, the rapid increase of loans to borrowers with mid-to-low credit scores has led to widespread concerns that the U.S. subprime crisis may reoccur in China; some also fear that capital from online loans have been used to invest in speculative real estate assets, effectively feeding a real estate bubble. As such, after a certain point in the growth of the Chinese fintech ecosystem, the regulatory sandbox has encouraged economic market failure more than it has fostered innovation in finance. China’s ‘Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Loans of Commercial Banks(互联网贷款管理办法)’ and ‘Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Microfinance Business (《网络小额贷款业务管理暂行办法)(征求意见稿))’ were drafted in response to the issues uncovered during the regulatory sandbox period, and exemplify the inductive logic governing Chinese policy changes. This paper seeks to explore the Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Microfinance Business as well as other regulations to analyze the background and implications of Chinese regulations with respect to non-bank online microlending. The paper will seek to extend the research to derive insights on the potential effects and limitations of a regulatory sandbox in the Korean fintech industry, while offering background to explore regulatory frameworks for online unsecured loans in Korea.