Amazon.com plans to launch a business loan program for small sales enterprises in eight new countries including China, Reuters reported, citing a statement from Peter Faricy, head of Amazon Marketplace. In China, where Alibaba lends to small businesses, offering such loans is more of a business requirement, analysts said. Since 2011, Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial’s Ant Micro Loan program has issued RMB400 billion (US$64.42 billion) worth of loans to Taobao and Tmall merchants as well as other small business owners who meet certain conditions. The non-performing loan ratio for these loans is 1.5%, an Ant Financial spokeswoman said.
China Economic Review