BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending platforms still have more than 800 billion yuan ($115 billion) unpaid to investors and their numbers have shrunk to just 29 across the country, the head of China’s banking and insurance regulator said on Friday.
A regulatory crackdown amid a deleveraging campaign on risky investments led to a collapse of the sector that had thrived in previous years by attracting retail investors with higher-than-usual returns. At one time, there were around 6,000 platforms.
“As long as there is a slim chance of hope, we will work with police and other departments to chase the money back,” the regulator chief, Guo Shuqing, told state television in an interview.
(Reporting by Yawen Chen, Cheng Leng and Ryan Woo; Editing by Tom Hogue)
