360 Finance gets approval for Kincheng Bank of Tianjin deal

360 Finance, a Chinese digital consumer finance platform, said that one of its affiliates 360 Group has secured approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission to wrap up its previously announced acquisition of a 30% stake in Kincheng Bank of Tianjin.

The deal was announced in June 2020 and its financial terms have not been disclosed.

Following the closing of the deal, 360 Group will become the largest shareholder of the bank, while Kincheng Bank of Tianjin will become the third Chinese private bank to be backed by an internet major.

Founded in 2015 in Tianjin’s pilot free trade zone, Kincheng Bank of Tianjin is said to be among the first five private banks approved by Chinese banking regulator under a pilot scheme to put in force financial reforms pertaining to the opening of the Chinese banking sector to private capital.

360 Finance gets approval for Kincheng Bank of Tianjin deal

Haisheng Wu – CEO and Director of 360 Finance said: “We are very pleased to see the transaction finally reached a successful conclusion. As a data driven, technology-empowered digital platform with particular strength in innovative product design and effective risk management, we expect to realize significant synergy between us and Kincheng Bank through strategic partnership. In the coming weeks, we will enter a series of agreements with Kincheng Bank to highlight the execution details related to all aspects of our partnership.

“We believe with such a deep-rooted relationship, we should be able to significantly expand the scope of our product and service offerings and continue to explore the application of digital technology in various scenarios, and ultimately to better satisfy the diverse needs of our users and institutional partners.”

360 Finance is engaged in providing customized online consumer finance products to prime, underserved borrowers funded mainly by its funding partners.