According to the Implementation Opinions, the service flow of the center is as follows: establishing a fund supply and demand information database, providing information on the financing needs of small and medium-sized enterprises and the supply of private funds, matching and docking information through the entity and virtual platform of the information service system, arranging interviews between the supply and demand sides of funds, assisting them to go through formalities and register for the record, and finally sorting out the loan information and filing it with the competent authorities.
However, this is only the general principle, not the specific implementation details. People involved in the establishment of the center said that the platform is more like a physical market or exchange, and the government will come forward to "attract investment" and bring a large number of related institutions into the building.
The above-mentioned people who participated in the formation said that since Wenzhou's move was the first attempt of China Minsheng Investment, there was no reference, so it was always difficult to unify the suggestions of all parties. He revealed that the formation work was hard to advance under the urging of the municipal government, but it is clear to all parties that the Lucheng District Government will take the lead in building the platform, and the remaining details and controversial parts will be gradually resolved through consultation.
Change the mode of private lending
Wenzhou Private Lending Network, as an electronic information website of private lending and financing that has been operated in Wenzhou, serves as a bridge between borrowers and borrowers, which facilitates both parties who need funds to complete transactions and find legal sources of funds for those who are in urgent need of funds.
According to Yan, the founder of the website and director of Wenzhou Law Firm, Wenzhou Private Lending Network is the embryonic form of Wenzhou Private Lending Registration Service Center, which initially has the functions of the center. Wenzhou Private Lending Network has been in operation since May 20 10.
It is understood that in the specific business operation process, Wenzhou Private Lending Network completed the matching transaction with a single minimum loan amount of 300,000 yuan. It takes seven days at the earliest from the release of the information of the capital supply and demand sides to the final completion of the matching transaction, provided that the loan interest rate can be directly matched and there is enough collateral, otherwise the time will be longer.
Yan believes that the establishment of the center can solve the difficult problems between brothers and relatives, such as loan interest, delayed repayment and incomplete procedures. However, it is undeniable that the efficiency and procedures will be more complicated, and the original fast, flexible, extensive and humanized private lending behavior is facing the change of mode.
Years of practice have shown that the biggest feature of private lending is its speed, and small funds can be put in within a few hours. Most lending relationships only need verbal promises or IOUs. The rapidity adapts to the temporary shortage of funds caused by the lack of careful planning in the use of funds by small and medium-sized enterprises
Private lending is usually carried out in a fixed scope and region, in the network of relatives and acquaintances, and has the comprehensive functions of risk-taking and mutual benefit. The interpersonal network with consanguinity and geography as the core is the most fundamental credit foundation of folk economic activities. Although there is no written regulation, all parties concerned abide by the established practice. Private lending is very human, and it can even be interest-free if the lending period is short or closely related.
According to the vision and planning of Wenzhou municipal government, the parties involved will be gradually introduced into an open operating platform and registered after the transaction is completed, which will change the traditional private lending service model. The above-mentioned person directly involved in the establishment said that the center has no mandatory function and participates voluntarily. Even government departments are not completely sure how much capital supply and demand will be financed through this channel after this channel is established.
The more critical supervision and controversy is the restriction on the interest rate level. The "Implementation Opinions" require intermediaries to strictly implement the private lending rate stipulated by law, and the lending rate shall not be higher than 4 times the bank lending rate in the same period. The functional department will monitor the fund transaction rate and the irregularities in the floor transaction, and deal with them in time.
However, for private funds with high enthusiasm for profit-seeking, it is not the best choice to rely on the center to arrange loans, and the most direct loss is the spread. According to the official statistics of Wenzhou Sub-branch of the People's Bank of China, the annual interest rate of private lending in Wenzhou was about 40% in September of 201year, equivalent to more than six times the one-year lending rate of banks.
However, financial circles familiar with the situation in Wenzhou believe that there may still be errors in the above statistics, and they feel that the actual private interest rate in Wenzhou is much higher than 40%. For these lenders who can get higher returns, it is actually quite difficult to actively integrate into the official collaborative management system.
In addition, some gray private lending relationships that may involve doubts about the source of funds will not easily surface.
The detailed rules need to be improved.
The good wish of the government to rectify the financial order is also faced with the boundary problem between the government and the market, especially in the process of implementing the Guiding Opinions, many operational details may lead to the deviation of the original intention of policy design.
A number of people directly involved in the rules and establishment of Wenzhou Private Lending Registration Service Center said that at the policy level, the government put forward principled guidance and defined the basic framework, but at the operational level, the establishment content, operation mode and business process of the center are still unclear and still under discussion.
The core issue is which institutions the platform has settled in, and the relevant selection criteria may be controversial.
According to the requirements of the "Implementation Opinions", in the initial stage of the pilot, advanced intermediaries engaged in private lending, such as investment (consulting) companies, will be stationed in non-financing guarantee companies, consignment banks, garbage swap banks and other intermediaries, and then gradually guide general legal persons, natural persons and other organizations engaged in private lending to register and manage.
It is understood that peer-to-peer lending intermediaries such as Renren Loan and CreditEase are considering entering the platform, and Zhejiang Local World Wide Web and Wenzhou Private Lending Network also plan to dock with the center.
Zhang Zhenyu, director of Wenzhou Financial Office, revealed at the end of 20 12 that 3 to 5 P2P (peer-to-peer) enterprises will be introduced to the center in 2012. However, it is understood that such institutions are still waiting to see when the implementation rules of Wenzhou Government Affairs Center are still unclear.
The "Implementation Opinions" stipulates that market-related parties voluntarily reach a transaction after entering the market. If the loan defaults, the center will not bear any responsibility. In this regard, Gao, executive director of Hangzhou Global Network, believes that the loan transaction from 1 to 1 can be completed through intermediaries. If there is a breach of contract, the center does not have to bear legal responsibility; However, if it is a 1 many-to-many transaction, the role of the center is no longer limited to the simple matchmaking in the 1 pair 1 transaction. In this case, how to define the legal liability after breach of contract needs to be discussed.
Secondly, the "Implementation Opinions" clearly pointed out that the center is led by state-owned companies or initiated by outstanding local private enterprises, and operates in a market-oriented manner. The profit model is to charge certain service fees to members and resident institutions.
Since the sponsors and shareholders of the center often have interests, how to balance the public service function and commercial profit requirements of the center? People involved in the formation work said that it is necessary to introduce relevant policies in advance and determine the charging standards. At present, the relevant departments in Wenzhou have not yet defined specific standards.
In addition, people close to Wenzhou Financial Office revealed that the definition of the service scope of the center's business is not clear, and whether it serves Wenzhou area or faces a larger area is still controversial.
Some people in the industry still have doubts about whether the center can strengthen supervision as expected by the designers.
The ultimate goal of Wenzhou's proposal to set up a center is to standardize private lending, provide a legal and sunny platform for private capital and crack down on illegal usury. To this end, the "Implementation Opinions" stipulates that the funds provided by fund suppliers must be their own funds and provide relevant certificates. It is strictly forbidden for banks to inflow funds, illegally raise funds and absorb public deposits.
However, one of the motivations of the 20 1 1 Wenzhou loan crisis was that a large amount of bank funds flowed into the usury market, which played a role in fueling the situation. A person from Wenzhou Branch of a large state-owned bank said that banks can only monitor the first account where credit funds flow out. According to the bank's statistics, 95% of the credit funds of SME loans in Wenzhou area of the bank flowed into the non-real economy.
People who participated in the establishment of the center also admitted that the role of the center may be very limited in identifying the source of lenders' funds and preventing the outflow of bank credit funds. In-depth verification of relevant funds actually involves the regulatory functions of the People's Bank of China, the Banking Regulatory Bureau and other departments, and is by no means something that a newly established center can undertake.
Yan, director of Wenzhou Law Firm, believes that with the sunshine of private lending, personal property information will also be made public, and a large number of private equity fund holders are reluctant to disclose personal property information. This brings a challenge, that is, how the center can protect the personal privacy of lenders and dispel their doubts. Therefore, they reminded that the establishment of the center may also be a staged attempt to restore and rebuild the local financial order, rather than necessarily replacing private lending institutions.