Alibaba-backed online lender MYBank (网商银行) is reportedly planning its first capital increase in the four years since its founding.
Anonymous sources said to Bloomberg that MYBank hopes to increase its capital to 10 billion from four billion yuan at present, with current shareholders Ant Financial and Fosun International both expected to participate.
As an online direct bank MYBank has focused on the provision of credit to client demographics that have traditionally found it difficult to access funds from China’s conventional financial system.
Hu Xiaoming (胡晓明), chairman of MYBank and Ant Financial president, said in June that the online lender’s micro and small-enterprise clients had seen a ten-fold increase over the past three years to reach 17 million in total.
Hu, who presided over the creation of MYBank’s predecessor Ali Micro Loan (阿里小贷), said that its unique “310” business model (three minutes for application, one second for lending, 0 humans involved in review) had already been adopted by 50 financial institutions in China to provide loans to online clientele.
