Authorities in the Sichuan province capital of Chengdu have launched an investigation into P2P lender Edai (易贷网) less than a year after the Chinese central bank hailed the “eradication” of the last remaining P2P platforms in China.
The public security bureau for the Jinjiang district of Chengdu announced on 31 May that it had recently launched an investigation into Edai due to suspicion that it had “illegally accepted deposits from the public.”
Authorities said that on 24 May a total of 11 suspects involved in the case had been placed in criminal custody, including Edai’s actual company controller Mr. Ren and legal representative Mr. Li.
Edai was founded in 2006 in Chengdu, and in addition to P2P lending services has also provided traditional loans and loan advisory services.
During the early days of the P2P lending boom in China Edai was considered one of the most promising up-and-coming platforms, obtaining around USD$10 million in investment from SoftBank in May 2014.
The number of P2P lenders still operating within China plunged to zero in November 2020 from just 5000 just several years ago according to central bank data, after domestic regulators launched a crackdown on the sector in response to widespread fraud scandals involving Ponzi-like schemes.
