WeBank pushes further into consumer finance

WeBank, China's first Internet-based private bank, pledged to offer more loans to consumers, particularly in the areas of car purchasing, home decoration and travelling.

The Shenzhen-based WeBank, which is set up by Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd and its local partners, said on Monday it has already lent a total of 6 billion yuan ($943 million) to 1.6 million individual borrowers through an online loan service called Weilidai.

"We launched the service in May and it is now available to 10 million QQ users and WeChat users. The idea is to allow people with good credit to get small loans as quickly as possible," said Starring Liu, a deputy manager at WeBank’s consumer finance business division.

The Weilidai service is able to offer small loans between 500 yuan and 200,000 yuan to qualified borrowers. Applicants can apply for loans via Tencent’s social networking tools QQ and WeChat and get loans as quickly as in 15 minutes.

To encourage more people to borrow from WeBank, the private bank teamed up with FAW TOYOTA Motor Sales Co Ltd on Monday to give each new borrower a cash subsidy worth 1,000 yuan.

According to WeBank, those who borrow more than 5,000 yuan between Nov 11 and Dec 10, can get the subsidy and use it when buying cars from FAW TOYOTA.

"We need more offline partners, such as FAW TOYOTA, so that when people shop and spend money, they will think of our service," said Liu, adding WeBank is considering rolling out more loan services to target young consumers.

"Car purchasing, home decoration and traveling are the three categories where we see a great future," he said.