China's nascent P2P lending sector courts investor, regulator attention

Peer-to-peer (P2P) credit now stands at US$53 billion in China as more entrepreneurs turn to internet financing, representing a potential threat to traditional banking and posing a dilemma for regulators hoping to boost growth but who are also wary of unregulated credit, Reuters reported, citing online lending tracker P2P001. China’s number of P2P lenders more than doubled in 2014 over the previous year to 1,700, while credit quadrupled for the same period. But 287 Chinese P2P firms shut down last year, with 98 closures in December alone exceeding the total for all of 2013.