Like many small businesses across China, Mr Zheng Weijun's freight company had struggled to obtain credit from the state-dominated banking system. But in 2018, the 12-lorry business discovered Fincera, a peer-to-peer (P2P) platform in Hebei province that collected money from retail investors starved of returns and channelled it to borrowers, mainly small trucking and logistics companies.
"We qualified for a 200,000 yuan ($41,300) loan and used it to expand the business," Mr Zheng says, adding that Fincera charged his company 9 per cent interest annually. "The traditional financial system does not reach down to us."
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