Hong Kong virtual bank Ping An OneConnect to expand lending to retail SMEs to capture post-Covid growth opportunities, CEO says
- Resumption of cross-border travel has ‘provided a growth engine for the retail sector’, Micheal Fei Yiming says
- Ping An OneConnect has introduced a revolving loans target for retail SMEs, which can each get a credit line of up to HK$300,000 (US$38,461)
“After the border between Hong Kong and mainland China reopened in January, the number of visitors to Hong Kong has multiplied,” Ping An OneConnect’s Micheal Fei Yiming said in a media briefing on Tuesday. “The resumption of cross-border travel has provided a growth engine for the retail sector. We are strongly confident that the local retail sector is reviving again.”
Ping An OneConnect last week introduced a revolving loans target for retail SMEs that are using payment company eftPay to accept electronic payments. The bank will use eftPay data to assess the credit quality of retailers, who can each get a credit line of up to HK$300,000 (US$38,461), Fei said.
The virtual bank works with Tradelink Electronic Commerce, a government-backed e-commerce services provider, for client referrals. It also uses Tradelink data for credit assessments.
Unlike traditional lenders, which offer loans against property or other assets as collateral, virtual banks such as Ping An OneConnect use big data and other trading or payment information to access firms’ credit quality. This allows many SMEs, which previously could not get bank loans, to get credit from lenders such as Ping An OneConnect as long as their business data is sound, Fei said.
