Premier Li Keqiang at the launch of China's first Internet-based bank, WeBank, in January. (Photo : www.techspot.com)
WeBank, China's first Internet-based bank, has announced the launching of its first loan product on May 15, Friday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Chen Jing, an executive at WeBank, said that their new product, named "Weilidai," grants small credit loans to users free of guarantee or without collateral.
The report said that the new product could provide users with 24/7 service via QQ wallet, a mobile payment service. The bank's new service would enable users to borrow and repay the small sum of money anytime with a daily interest of around 0.05 percent.
According to the report, WeBank did not specify the loan ceiling of the service. Still on trial stage, the service is only offered to select users for now. Chen said that they expect to expand the service to other users in the future.
The bank will manage the default risks through big data collected by social networking platforms or by a third party.
Chen added that WeBank is set to introduce more money management-related services and payment to address and meet the users' demand.
WeBank, which is based in the southern city of Shenzhen, has registered capital of 3 million yuan ($482,276), and Tencent, the operator of the popular messaging apps WeChat and QQ, has acquired a 30-percent majority stake in the bank.
China's first online-only private bank was officially launched by Tencent in January. It is the first institution to begin operations under a pilot program to expand private banking in China, where majority of banks are state-owned.
WeBank was established to make it easier for individuals and small companies to obtain loans, especially small and medium-sized companies which have become an important driver of economic growth in China.
The bank has no physical branches in the country, and it is expected that it will provide mostly loans under 1 million yuan ($160,680).
The company's first loan of 35,000 yuan ($5,600) was granted to Premier Li Keqiang during the bank's launching ceremony at Shenzhen.
