Interim Measures for the Administration of Business Activities of Peer-to-peer Lending Information Intermediaries

Interim Measures for the Administration of Business Activities of Peer-to-peer Lending Information Intermediaries
Interim Measures for the Administration of Business Activities of Peer-to-peer Lending Information Intermediaries

Order of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China and the Cyberspace Administration of China [2016] No.1

August 17, 2016

In order to strengthen the supervision and administration of the business activities of peer-to-peer lending information intermediaries, promote the healthy development of the Peer-to-peer lending industry, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security and the Cyberspace Administration of China have promulgated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Business Activities of Peer-to-peer Lending Information Intermediaries in accordance with the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, the Company Law of the People's Republic of China, the Contract Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and regulations. The Interim Measures are hereby promulgated upon approval of the State Council and shall come into force as of the promulgation date.

Director of the China Banking Regulatory Commission: Shang Fulin
Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China: Miao Wei
Minister of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China: Guo Shengkun
Director of the Cyberspace Administration of China: Xu Lin

Interim Measures for the Administration of Business Activities of Peer-to-peer Lending Information Intermediaries

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 In order to regulate the business activities of Peer-to-peer ("P2P") lending information intermediaries, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of lenders, borrowers, P2P lending information intermediaries and parties concerned, promote the healthy development of the P2P lending industry and better satisfy the investment and financing needs of small, medium and micro-sized enterprises and individuals, these Measures are promulgated in accordance with the general requirements and regulatory principles proposed in the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of Internet Finance, as well as pursuant to the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, the Company Law of the People's Republic of China, the Contract Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and regulations.

Article 2 These Measures shall apply to the business activities of P2P lending information intermediaries within the territory of China, unless otherwise stipulated by laws and regulations.
For the purpose of these Measures, P2P lending shall refer to the direct lending among individuals via Internet platforms. Individuals shall include natural persons, legal persons and other organizations. P2P lending information intermediaries shall refer to the legally established financial information intermediaries specialized in P2P lending information intermediary business. Such intermediaries provide such services as information collection, information release, credit assessment, information exchange, and match of lending, on the Internet as the primary channel to facilitate the direct lending between borrowers and lenders (loaners).
For the purpose of these Measures, local financial regulatory departments shall refer to the departments of all provincial people's governments that undertake local financial regulatory responsibilities.

Article 3 P2P lending information intermediaries shall provide information services to borrowers and lenders, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the principles of lawfulness, good faith, voluntariness and fairness, and shall not provide credit enhancement services, collect or gather funds directly or indirectly, illegally raise funds or impair the interests of the state and public interests.
Borrowers and lenders shall bear lending risks adhering to the principles of voluntary borrowing and lending, honesty and trustworthiness, taking responsibility on their own and assuming risks independently. P2P lending information intermediaries shall undertake the responsibility of disclosing information in an objective, authentic, comprehensive and timely manner and shall not bear the risks of loan defaults.

Article 4 The administration responsibilities of all parties concerned shall be implemented in accordance with the general requirements of "encouraging innovation, preventing risks, drawing on advantages and avoiding disadvantages, and achieving healthy development" and the supervision and administration principle of "lawful, moderate, classified, coordinated and innovative supervision and administration" as stated in the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of Internet Finance. The banking regulatory authority of the State Council as well as its regional offices shall be responsible for formulating the regulatory system for business activities of P2P lending information intermediaries and regulating their conduct. Provincial people's governments of all places shall be responsible for regulating P2P lending information intermediaries within their respective jurisdiction. The Ministry of Industry and Technology Information shall be responsible for regulating the telecommunications business involved in the business activities of P2P lending information intermediaries. The Ministry of Public Security shall take the lead in supervising the security of Internet services provided by P2P lending information intermediaries, investigating and dealing with activities in violation of laws and regulations on Internet security supervision, and cracking down on financial crimes and relevant crimes involved in P2P lending. The Cyberspace Administration of China shall be responsible for regulating such business as financial information services and Internet information contents.

Chapter II Record-Filing Administration

Article 5 A P2P lending information intermediary and its branches planning to carry out P2P lending information intermediary services shall file a record with the local financial regulatory department at the place where it is registered with the industry and commerce authority by presenting relevant materials within ten working days after obtaining the business license.
Local financial regulatory departments shall be responsible for handling the record-filing for P2P lending information intermediaries. Local financial regulatory departments shall accept the record-filing applications and complete the procedures for record-filing within the time limit as stipulated by each province (autonomous region or municipality) as long as the materials provided by P2P lending information intermediaries for record-filing are complete. Filing a record shall not constitute the recognition or assessment of business capacity, compliance degree and credit status of P2P lending information intermediaries.
Local financial regulatory departments shall have the right to assess and classify the P2P lending information intermediaries which have filed for the record in accordance with these Measures and the relevant regulatory rules, and to publicize the record-filing information and the classification results on their respective official websites in a timely manner.
P2P lending information intermediaries shall, after completing the record-filing with the local financial regulatory departments, apply for telecommunication business operating licenses pursuant to the relevant provisions of the competent authorities of communications, and shall not carry out P2P lending information intermediary business if they fail to apply for telecommunication business operating licenses as required.
Specific rules on the record-filing, assessment and classification of P2P lending information intermediaries shall be formulated separately.
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