MYBank looking to upgrade, expand services

MYBank, the online lending affiliate of Ant Financial Services Group, said on Thursday it aims to extend financial services to 30 million small and micro companies and individual businesses in the country over the next three years by teaming up with 1,000 financial institutions.

The bank has pledged to fulfill this promise by opening up technological capabilities to its partners, such as the use of artificial intelligence in credit evaluation and risk control, said Eric Jing, Ant Financial CEO.

AI can monitor the entire business cycle and predict incoming financing needs from these smaller clients, such as surging demands for stockpiled capital ahead of the Nov 11 discount gala, Jing said.

Over 10 million small merchants have obtained loans from MYBank since its debut three years ago. Loan-seekers on average spend three minutes submitting their applications online and the money would reach their accounts within the blink of an eye, said Huang Hao, the bank's president.

It extends loans based on customer risk assessment determined through big data analysis. By circumventing human interference, the cost of issuing one loan is thus slashed from 2,000 yuan ($308) to just 2.3 yuan, most of which can be attributed to investment in calculation and storage hardware, Huang said.

Fulfillment of the goal— to accelerate the penetration of credit services — is fueled by the proliferation of mobile internet and an increasing adoption of Quick Response Code, a popular payment method in China with the aid of a smartphone, he noted.

"Over three million of our existing clients are pop-and-mom stores or individual business owners who accept bills via QR code payment," Huang said.

Due to a lack of credit history or collateral, micro and small businesses have suffered from a credit crunch due to higher costs, bigger risks and the discrepancy between supply and demand, said Li Dongrong, president of the National Internet Finance Association of China.

"Now technology can empower them with funds in nearly real time, greatly reduce bad loan ratios and provide a one-stop financing service for the entire business cycle," he said.