Consumption is an important engine for smoothing the domestic cycle and expanding domestic demand, and has a lasting driving force for the development of the real economy. **The Economic Work Conference proposed to "promote consumption from post-epidemic recovery to continuous expansion", pointing out the direction for consumer finance to promote consumption in 2024. From the perspective of the consumer finance industry, since 2023, a number of licensed consumer financial institutions have continuously improved their services in terms of digitalizing to boost consumption, improve financial products, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Digital empowerment boosts consumption.
Digital construction is the core competitiveness of consumer financial institutions. Since 2023, consumer financial institutions have followed the trend of digital development, strengthened the empowerment of science and technology, deepened the use of large models, blockchain and other technological means, and promoted consumption promotion activities to efficiently reach users during holidays, and the breadth of consumer financial services has been expanding.
Looking back on 2023, the retail financial model will serve users to reduce costs and increase efficiency, contributing to the recovery of consumption. Immediately consume to seize the opportunity of cultural and tourism consumption such as "entering Zizi to catch up with the roast", increase online credit delivery, promote product innovation, and increase financial support for the high-quality development of the consumer economy. As of December 2023, Anyihua**, a subsidiary of Immediate Consumption, has carried out 254 interest-free activities to benefit the people in the fields of computer office and household products, and issued more than 100 consumption vouchers to help the consumer market recover. Lu Quan, President of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence of Instant Consumption, said that the use of the large retail financial model "Tianjing" covers the typical scenarios of the retail financial industry and improves the efficiency of financial service users.
Target key nodes to activate holiday spending. A number of consumer financial institutions have launched a series of interest discount activities at nodes such as the "6.18" shopping festival. In 2023, more than 10 themed consumption promotion activities will be carried out on the Central Plains Consumer Finance APP, including "6.18" mid-year benefits, "Double 11" carnival and other activities, with a cumulative interest reduction of more than 5 million yuan throughout the year, ensuring that the popularity of Huimin services will not subside, the intensity will not be reduced, and the highlights will continue. "Since its establishment, consumer financial institutions have unswervingly laid out the 'digital +' business, adhered to the whole-process operation of customers and insight into customer consumption habits, and continued to benefit customers through multiple welfare activities at holiday economic nodes, unleashing consumption potential and promoting residents' consumption upgrading. Zhou Wenlong, general manager of Centaline Consumer Finance, said that since 2023, Centaline Consumer Finance has closely followed the positive signals of market recovery, continuously expanded diversified digital scenarios, leveraged high-traffic platform channels and customer resources, embedded consumer financial services in them, and realized refined services for customers.
Reviewing the actions of the consumer finance industry to promote consumption in 2023, the role of digital precision empowerment is highlighted. Du Yang, a researcher at the Bank of China Research Institute, said that consumer finance companies are an important part of China's consumer financial service system, and consumer financial institutions take financial technology as the core of digital transformation to achieve online and offline linkage to promote consumption. At the same time, consumer financial institutions rely on digital technology to continuously improve their data processing capabilities, so as to form more accurate portraits of different customer groups and understand their more specific consumer service needs, which will help improve the inclusive attributes of consumer finance.
While residents' consumption demand is unleashed, it is particularly important to guard against digital risks. Zhu Taihui, a researcher at the National Finance and Development Laboratory, said that in the process of serving users, it is very important for consumer finance to strengthen its ability to identify user risks and manage the flow of funds. Consumer financial institutions should follow the general trend of digital transformation, build intelligent post-loan management and anti-fraud systems based on big data analysis and artificial intelligence tools, innovate consumer financial service models, further reduce customers' comprehensive financing costs, and improve the availability and convenience of financial services.
Dig deep into the "blue ocean" market of new citizens.
In 2023, the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Inclusive Finance" issued by ** proposes that in the next five years, a high-quality inclusive financial system will be basically completed. Financial services for new citizens, such as agricultural migrants, have been deepened. This means that serving new citizens will become an important topic in the consumer finance industry.
At present, there are about 300 million new citizens in China, including but not limited to migrant workers in urban areas, newly employed college graduates, etc., mainly distributed in manufacturing, construction, transportation and warehousing, wholesale and retail and other industries. As hundreds of millions of rural people move to cities and towns through employment, schooling, etc., and integrate into the local area to become new citizens, new citizens have a very strong demand for funds in the fields of starting a family, starting a business, employment, education, medical care, etc., and optimizing the consumer financial services for new citizens will provide them with better help to start a family and start a business in the city.
Since 2023, consumer financial institutions have actively provided financial services to new citizen customers and effectively activated the consumer market. Zhao Lei, who settled in Shanghai after graduating from university, was stretched thin after buying a wedding house, and the decoration of the wedding house was delayed. After learning about the "family consumption loan" of IB Consumer Finance, he successfully obtained a loan of 150,000 yuan, which solved the urgent need for decoration funds. "Family Consumption Loan" delivers professional and high-quality financial services to users who are difficult to be covered by traditional financial institutions through a pure credit and unsecured installment loan model, forming a virtuous circle of financial promotion of consumption. Up to now, IB Consumer Finance has issued more than 330 billion yuan of consumer loans, serving more than 21 million customers, and strongly supporting the consumption of new citizens.
In fact, this is just a microcosm of the power of consumer financial institutions to help new citizens with inclusive benefits. However, from a financial point of view, new citizens generally have pain points such as insufficient pledged assets, lack of credit information, and lack of financial knowledge. Therefore, it is of great significance to improve the financial services of new citizens to accelerate the structural reform of the financial supply side. Du Yang said that consumer finance companies focusing on the consumption of new citizen customers can not only effectively make up for the shortcomings of consumer financial services, fully release the consumption potential of new citizen customers, but also help high-quality economic development. The person in charge of IB Consumer Finance said that consumer financial institutions provide consumer financial products to the public who have not fully enjoyed the loan services of traditional banks, so as to achieve "complementary customer groups and dislocation competition" with traditional banks. A significant number of the customers served by consumer finance companies are new citizens. Compared with traditional banks, consumer finance companies can play an important role in serving new citizens due to their fast response time and strong innovation vitality.
It is a long-term project to dig deep into the "blue ocean" market of new citizens. Looking forward to 2024, consumer finance companies should focus on the consumption needs of new citizens in terms of clothing, food, housing and transportation, improve consumption scenarios and financial products and services, and improve the quality and efficiency of financial services for new citizens.
Strengthen the protection of consumer rights and interests.
In 2023, the State Administration of Financial Supervision and the People's Bank of China and other departments jointly launched the "2023 Financial Consumer Rights Protection Education and Publicity Month". Industry insiders believe that doing a good job in protecting the rights and interests of financial consumers will help enhance the attractiveness of consumer finance and promote a virtuous circle between consumer financial institutions and users.
A number of consumer financial institutions have actively responded to the call of the regulatory authorities. Zhaolian Financial continues to hold the "Five Entry" activities in communities, campuses, enterprises, business districts, and rural areas, and guides financial consumers to correctly understand and use financial products and services, and enhance consumers' awareness of protecting their own rights and interests by creating a variety of activities such as Zhaolian ultimate experience consumer protection station, anti-fraud photo oath and answering questions**. Haier Consumer Finance has incorporated consumer protection construction into the company's development strategy, cultural construction and operation management, and continues to improve the company's consumer protection management system and corporate culture construction.
Miao Yingying, head of the consumer protection department of Haier Consumer Finance, said that a consumer financial institution that attaches importance to the protection of consumer rights and interests is more likely to win the trust of consumers and enhance user stickiness, thereby enhancing the social responsibility and credibility of consumer financial institutions, enhancing the market competitiveness of their own products, and helping the stable and healthy development of the financial market. Therefore, consumer financial institutions must attach great importance to the protection of consumer rights and interests, establish and improve the consumer rights and interests protection mechanism, and provide consumers with "warm" financial services.
As an important participant in the financial market, consumer financial institutions should protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Looking forward to 2024, Chen Liang, a senior analyst at Tianyancha Data Research Institute, said that a linkage mechanism should be formed between regulatory authorities and consumer financial institutions, diversified dispute resolution channels should be broadened, and obstacles in user borrowing and repayment should be removed in a timely manner to ensure that the rights and interests of financial consumers are fully protected. (Economic ** reporter Wang Baohui).