Xie Huiqian, chief reporter of Shenzhen Business Daily and Reading Client
Looking back on 2023, capital increase and issuance of ABS to "replenish blood" are undoubtedly the "keywords" of the consumer finance industry. According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, last year, 4 consumer financial institutions completed capital increases and share expansions, and 8 consumer financial institutions issued ABS, and the issuance of ABS by consumer financial institutions accelerated significantly.
Since the day before New Year's Day in 2023, the Chongqing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau issued an approval showing that it agreed to increase the registered capital of Ant Consumption** from 8 billion yuan to 18.5 billion yuan. On October 25, 2023, the Chongqing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau issued an approval showing that since Ant Consumer Finance once again increased its registered capital from 18.5 billion yuan to 23 billion yuan, it set off a "capital increase wave" in consumer financial institutions last year.
In January 2023, Shangcheng Consumer Finance, which is backed by Bank of Shanghai and Ctrip, completed the change of registered capital, increasing its registered capital from the original 1 billion yuan to about 162.4 billion yuan, with a capital increase of 624%；In April 2023, Ningyin Consumer Finance was approved to increase its registered capital from 900 million yuan to 291.1 billion yuan. After the capital increase, Bank of Ningbo accounted for 92% of the company's total share capital79%；On December 18, the official website of the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration announced that it agreed to increase the registered capital of Suyin KGI Consumer Finance from 2.6 billion yuan to 4.2 billion yuan. The capital increase is as high as 6154%。
It is worth mentioning that the Measures for the Administration of Consumer Financial Companies (Draft for Comments) was also officially promulgated last year, in which the Draft raised the access standards for consumer financial institutions, increased the assets, revenue indicators and minimum shareholding ratios of major investors, and also explicitly raised the minimum registered capital of consumer financial institutions from 300 million yuan to 1 billion yuan.
This means that 2024 will usher in a new batch of "capital increase" of consumer financial institutions. Up to now, nine of the licensed consumer financial institutions that have opened have faced the requirement to increase their shareholdings.
At the same time, the issuance of ABS by consumer financial institutions also accelerated significantly last year. As of December 30, 2023, a total of 8 consumer finance companies have issued a total of 18 ABS, with a cumulative total of more than 2514.1 billion yuan, significantly exceeding the previous year's 1403.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth rate of 791%。
The eight institutions that issued ABS are Immediate Consumer Finance, Zhongyuan Consumer Finance, Hubei Consumer Finance, Industrial Consumer Finance, Haier Consumer Finance, Changyin 58 Consumer Finance, Hangzhou Bank Consumer Finance and Bank of China Consumer Finance.
Among them, Immediate Consumer Finance ranked first with an issuance scale of 8.5 billion yuan, with a total of 6 issues of ABS. The issuance scale of Hubei consumer finance is 90.4 billion yuan, which was the lowest issuance scale of institutions during the year.
In addition to the rebound in ABS issuance, the issuance of financial bonds, which had been stagnant for two years in the consumer finance sector, also ushered in the opening of the floodgates for the first time during the year. On November 24, 2023, IB Consumer Finance issued the "First Financial Bond of 2023", with an issuance scale of RMB 1.5 billion, an issuance period of three years, and a coupon rate of 303%, the main rating and debt rating are AAA.
Last year, consumer financial institutions were busy increasing capital and replenishing blood, mainly in order to revitalize capital, withdraw funds, and expand the scale of consumer loan funds, so as to gain an advantage in the current fierce stock competition. Among them, the sharp acceleration of the issuance of ABS is mainly due to the relatively low interest rate of ABS issuance, which is conducive to reducing financing costs, so it is favored by consumer financial institutions and is also promoted by favorable policies. Wu Zewei, a researcher at Xingtu Financial Research Institute, said in an interview with reporters that Su Xiaorui, a senior observer of the consumer finance industry, also pointed out in an interview with reporters that in recent years, consumer financial institutions have frequently increased their capital and increased the frequency of issuing ABS, which is a microcosm of their continuous enhancement of their own strength and steady expansion. "For licensed consumer financial institutions, ABS is favored by consumer finance companies because of its low cost of access to capital and systematic open market process operation standards. However, due to the high threshold for obtaining ABS issuance, and the regulatory authorities have also set some corresponding conditions for their operating years and corporate governance, the development of consumer finance companies that can issue ABS in the industry is relatively more mature. ”
Wu Zewei further pointed out that with the continuous release of regulatory policies, economic recovery and confidence restoration, residents' consumption is also steadily improving, and the development of the consumer finance industry is expected to continue to improve this year.
Reviewer: Wang Bei.