PingAn Bank
Ping An Bank is widely perceived as a leading provider of car finance, not only because of the robust growth it has seen in this business area but also for the leadership it has demonstrated in adopting technologies that facilitate car finance services and control the risks in the business.
Ping An’s dedicated domestic car finance business unit was created in 2012 after it came top of a list of business areas around which Ping An planned to build up its retail banking operations.
Since then, the unit has experienced tremendous growth. The balance of its car loan book increased more than 10 times to exceed Rmb100 billion ($15 billion) by the end of 2017.
In 2018, Ping An consolidated its position as the largest provider of car finance in China’s banking sector. In the first three quarters of last year, newly generated auto loans jumped 37.9% from a year earlier to approach Rmb110 billion, while the balance of its auto loans rose 9.7% to Rmb143 billion by the end of September.
What is equally impressive about Ping An’s car finance business is the remarkable progress the bank has made to upgrade services and manage associated risks.
By using big data analysis to sift through loan applicants and assess the residual value of used cars, the bank developed an automated system that processed two-thirds of the car finance applications it had received for new cars and nearly 60% of the applications for used cars last year.
By adopting fingerprint, voice print and facial recognition technologies to prevent fraud and by deploying an artificial intelligence-powered robotic system for bill collection, the bank instituted a robust risk control mechanism that enables it to keep the non-performing loan ratio for its car finance business at 0.55% as of the end of September 2018.