China’s online peer-to-peer lending industry has been in turmoil for the last three years as financial regulators have clamped down as part of “de-risking” efforts. Tuandai.com, a top P2P lender, collapsed in March due to turnover problems. As of February, the platform had more than 220,000 investors with RMB 14.5 billion ($2.15 billion) in outstanding loans. The company is under investigation for illegal fundraising, leading to the 55:24 970:a628eb73-c592-470b-8fb3-41ea080ca9e8&redirect_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.caixinglobal.com%2F2019-04-27%2Fpolice-arrest-41-associated-with-failed-p2p-lender-tuandaicom-101409341.html" target="_blank" title="arrest of 41 people">arrest of 41 people so far, including co-owners Tang Jun and Zhang Lin.

This week, Andrew Polk, partner at Trivium China, joins us to discuss what's happening with the P2P lending industry in China.

Key questions:

• What role has the government played in the growth and death of P2P lending?


• How is the crackdown on cryptocurrency different from the tightening regulations around P2P lending?


• Are P2P companies really tech companies, as many claim?


• Can we expect companies like Dianrong to survive this round of government scrutiny?

Links

• 22: P2P lending, retail banking, and the future of online services with Ling Kong


• The Trivium Tip Sheet


• Become a member of TechNode Squared


• Get your tickets to the first annual

Guest

• Andrew Polk, @andrewpolk81

Hosts

• John Artman, @knowsnothing, TechNode


• Matthew Brennan, @MattyBGoooner, ChinaChannel

Producer

• Peter Isachenko

Podcast information

• iTunes


• Spotify


• RSS feed


• Music: "Theme from Penguins on Parade" by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3