Banking News
- StanChart offers personal loan product
Date: 12-Oct-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
STANDARD Chartered Plc. (StanChart), the U.K. bank that gets most of its profits from Asia, launched in Shenzhen on Thursday an unsecured personal loan product to tap into the fast-growing personal banking market in the city.
The personal financing product, called Xiandaipai, was first introduced on the mainland in July, when the bank offered it to customers in Shanghai.
The first unsecured personal loan product of its kind on the mainland, Xiandaipai gives customers the opportunity to receive their own line of credit.
Upon approval, the loan amount can be directly credited to the designated personal bank account, said Standard Chartered.
According to the London-based bank, the application process is 'simple and straight forward,'as the product does not require either collateral or guarantor.
Applicants are assessed on the basis of their employment and stability of income. Subject to the provision of the required documents, the approved loan amount can be accessed in as few as four working days.
However, Standard Chartered said that customers can only use personal credit to obtain loans from the bank.
Xiandaipai was well-received when it was introduced in Shanghai, the bank said.
Applicants only need to provide the bank with personal information on identification, residence, employment and income to get a loan of up to 200,000 yuan (US$26,631.15).
Unsecured personal loan customers enjoy a fixed loan rate, which ranges between 7.9 percent and 9.9 percent. The bank said customers are thus protected from interest rate fluctuations.
Christine Ip, country head of consumer banking of Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd., said the product is specifically designed for mainland consumers and the launch of this product shows the bank's strong confidence in the consumer financial market.
Foreign banks have been rushing to add outlets and offer new products to compete for the nation's US$3.9 trillion in household savings after China fully opened its banking sector in December last year.
Standard Chartered, which completed local incorporation in China in April to offer yuan banking services to local residents, aims to double its number of China outlets to 40 by the end of this year, said Peter Sand, global CEO of Standard Chartered Group, in March this year.
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