Online loan platform to open offline locations

Online loan search platform Rong360.com is now moving into helping clients with online-to-offline loans, said the company CEO in Beijing on Thursday.

Rong360 originally only provided a search platform for users seeking online loans from banks, acting as a middleman. The company doesn't have a license to offer loans like banks. Thursday's announcement isn't a move into offering loans but rather to reach out to offline clients.

CEO and co-founder Ye Daqing, says that the company will launch 18 loan service stations in various major Chinese cities by the end of 2014 and another 100 stations sometime next year.

Ye said the company will gather loan application requests online, select potentially qualified applicants through preliminary investigation and invite them to the loan service stations for one-on-one interviews. Should the applicant be deemed qualified, Ye said Rong360.com will help them file loan applications to the various financial institutions partnered with the platform.

The company faces competition from other financial companies such as Jiangchuan Banking and ufs.net.cn. Banks and small loan companies use these services as a means to outsource preliminary loan review services to reduce operating costs. Since Rong360.com doesn't offer direct loans, it also faces competitions from traditional banks, small loan companies and peer-to-peer lending companies.

For small companies and individuals, the cost of loan review services usually account for 10 to 20 percent of the loan amount at a bank. But with the help of big data analytics, Rong360 will provide such services to the banks at a cost of 5 to 10 percent of the loan, said Li Yinghao, Rong360.com's chief risk officer.

Ye said that the loan service stations will also help simplify the procedure for loan applications and improve efficiency. According to Ye, applicants will now wait only five days to receive a statement from the bank instead of the average 15 days.