Public opinion sought on P2P lending rules

The government has started to elicit public opinion on the first regulation for peer-to-peer lending and other relevant platforms on Monday to prevent financial risks and better safeguard the safety of the lenders.

The upcoming regulation defines P2P lending companies as financial information service intermediaries for direct lending between unrelated individuals via Internet platforms.

It forbids P2P lending companies from carrying out 12 kinds of businesses, including accumulating funds from lenders, providing guarantees to lenders, promising to preserve the lenders' capital and interests, as well as selling bank wealth management products, funds, insurance and trust products.