The nation's online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending sector is on the decline, with the number of new platforms continuing to drop while the number of problematic sites increasing, media reports said Tuesday.
In January, there were 27 new P2P lending platforms, down 60.9 percent from a month earlier, and 79 more platforms were deemed "problematic" in the month, Beijing-based State-run newspaper People's Daily reported.
At the end of January, there were 2,771 P2P lending sites operating "normally" in China, but that number represented a second consecutive month of decline, the report said, due to tighter regulation and intensifying competition.