A few days ago, the State Financial Supervision and Administration announced the "No.1 Order" since its listing — — The Measures for the Administration of Auto Finance Companies was revised and released, and will come into force on August 11th.
As a professional financial institution supporting and serving the automobile industry chain, auto finance companies have grown from scratch and played a positive role in promoting China’s automobile consumption, helping to smooth the automobile industry chain and supporting the stability of the macro-economic market.
The insiders believe that the release of the new "Measures" after this revision is conducive to further strengthening the supervision of auto finance companies, guiding them to operate in compliance with laws and regulations, and continuing to operate steadily, prompting them to adhere to the functional orientation of specializing in auto consumer credit, continuously improving the quality and efficiency of serving the real economy, and achieving high-quality development.
Adapt to market changes
An auto financing company refers to a non-bank financial institution established with the approval of the State Financial Supervision and Administration to provide auto financing services. The first professional organization in the industry is SAIC General Motors Finance Co., Ltd., which was established in 2004. The Industry Development Report of China Auto Finance Company (2022) issued by China Banking Association (hereinafter referred to as "Report") shows that by the end of 2022, there were 25 auto finance companies in China, with assets of 989.195 billion yuan, which remained stable on the whole. The balance of retail loans was 785.258 billion yuan, down slightly by 3.51% year-on-year; The balance of inventory wholesale loans was 112.69 billion yuan, up 8.73% year-on-year; The balance of financial leasing was 6.15 billion yuan, an increase of 29.45%.
With the development of auto financing company industry, the management measures have undergone three revisions. The first edition was the Administrative Measures for Auto Financing Companies issued by the former CBRC in 2003, and the corresponding implementation rules were also issued in the same year. The second edition is the "Measures for the Administration of Auto Financing Companies" issued by the former CBRC in 2008, which has been significantly revised. The third edition was released after this revision.
"In the 15 years after the promulgation and implementation of the original Measures, profound changes have taken place in the domestic automobile industry and automobile consumption market." Ye Huaibin, a researcher at China Bank Research Institute, said. Up to now, China’s automobile production and sales volume has ranked first in the world for 14 consecutive years, the gap between the production and manufacturing of fuel vehicles and the traditional automobile powers has been narrowing, the advantages of the new energy automobile industry are remarkable, and the industry’s "going out" has become a development trend.
Moreover, after continuous high growth, the growth rate of urban automobile penetration rate in China has slowed down obviously, and the automobile consumption market has gradually matured, and consumers pay more attention to full-cycle financial services such as automobile maintenance and after-sales.
"From the perspective of the industry growth trend, the value chain of the automobile industry is being reshaped, and all links in the automobile industry chain need strong financial support." The person in charge of SAIC General Motors Finance told the reporter. On the one hand, automobile sales are no longer just one-off product sales, but have gradually turned into continuous automobile ecosystem services. After-sales and derivative consumption of automobiles will become the main profit growth points and an important driving force for the sustainable development of the automobile market. Retail customers’ demand for financing has also expanded from single car financing to after-sales, derivative and other car life cycle financing needs. On the other hand, with the deepening of electrification, networking, intelligence and the rise of shared services, new production methods and service methods will introduce more participants into the automobile industry chain and become important members of the supply-side reform of the automobile industry, such as shared automobile operators, after-sales parts manufacturers and service providers, intelligent terminal equipment providers, insurance institutions and after-sales maintenance institutions, which will bring new financing needs.
"After these years of development, the position of auto finance companies in the auto finance market has become increasingly stable, and auto finance has become an important part of the financial market." Ye Huaibin told reporters that according to Roland Berger, a management consulting company, in 2022, the share of auto finance companies in the domestic auto finance market was about 41%, which was basically the same as that of commercial banks’ auto finance business with 42%. In addition, there were financial leasing companies accounting for about 17%.
The data also shows that the financial penetration rate of China’s new car market has reached 58% in 2022, an increase of 20 percentage points over five years ago; The financial penetration rate of the used car market was 38%, up 13 percentage points from five years ago. "In the face of profound changes in the industry, the implementation of this new regulation is conducive to promoting the high-quality development of the auto finance industry, supporting and expanding auto consumption, and enhancing the international competitiveness of China’s auto industry." Ye Huaibin said.
Strengthen standardized supervision
From the content point of view, the new Measures are mainly revised in four aspects: strengthening supervision based on risk, adapting to the market demand of high-quality development of automobile industry, strengthening corporate governance and internal control, and implementing the policy of opening to the outside world. "The focus of the revision is to strengthen risk prevention and control and corporate governance." Ye Huaibin believes.
In order to guide auto financing companies to focus on their main business, the new regulations cancel the equity investment business. Put forward higher requirements for investors, strengthen shareholders’ support for auto financing companies, appropriately expand the scope of shareholders’ deposits, and cancel the term of time deposits. Risk management requirements have been increased, liquidity risk supervision indicators have been added, and regulations on major emergency reporting, on-site inspection, extended investigation and tripartite talks have been improved.
The investor threshold has also been greatly improved in this revision. For example, it is stipulated that the investor of an auto financing company is a non-bank enterprise legal person legally established inside and outside China, and the main investor must be an automobile manufacturing enterprise or a non-bank financial institution. "Automobile sales enterprises are no longer among the major investors." Hu Wubin, the founding partner of Shaanxi Andexin Commercial Vehicle Service Co., Ltd., told the reporter.
In addition, detailed requirements are made on what conditions non-financial institutions and non-bank financial institutions should have as investors of auto finance companies. For example, if a non-financial institution is required to be the controlling shareholder, its net assets must be no less than 40% of the total assets at the end of the last fiscal year, and it has been profitable continuously for the last three fiscal years.
At the same time, at least one investor of an auto financing company should have more than five years of rich experience in auto consumer credit business management and risk control, or introduce a qualified professional management team for the auto financing company, including at least one senior manager with rich experience in auto finance and one risk management professional.
"The requirements for the strength of investors and business areas are obviously stricter than before the revision, which reflects the prudent supervision attitude of risks, which is conducive to the steady development of auto finance companies themselves and to their real role in supporting the auto industry." Hu Wubin believes.
The new Measures also add requirements for corporate governance and internal control, focusing on the regulatory requirements for equity management, "three meetings and one floor", related party transactions, information disclosure, consumer rights protection, internal and external auditing and information systems, and strengthen the corporate governance construction with the characteristics of auto finance companies.
"One of the highlights of this revision is to highlight the risk-oriented, put the prevention of financial risks in the first place, and lead the scientific, professional and standardized development of auto finance companies." The relevant person in charge of SAIC-GM Automotive Finance told reporters that "prudent management and risk-oriented are the cornerstones for auto finance companies to achieve sustainable and high-quality development. The regulatory requirements of these two chapters provide important support and solid guarantee for the steady development of the industry, and the company will fully support and resolutely implement them."
The future is vast.
"In the past, buying a car with a loan could only be used to buy a car; In the future, if you want to add additional equipment to your car, such as car clothing film, navigation equipment, driving recorder, etc., you will also be able to borrow money from auto financing companies. In this way, the financial threshold for us to complete the car and some surrounding equipment can be lowered. " Xiao Li, a Beijing citizen who is looking at the car recently, said happily after hearing the latest introduction from the sales staff of 4S shop.
The highlight of this revision is that it has opened up new space for auto financing companies in business scope, exhibition area and financing channels, which will better stimulate consumption in the auto market, support the auto industry to "go global", improve the liquidity management level of auto financing companies and promote the high-quality development of the industry.
The aforementioned "Report" shows that auto finance companies have exerted their efforts from both the retail end and the supply chain end, which has played an effective role in stimulating new kinetic energy of consumption and supporting small and medium-sized micro-dealers. By the end of last year, 25 auto financing companies nationwide had 6,554,400 retail loan vehicles, including 6,009,100 new car loan vehicles, accounting for 22.37% of China’s auto sales last year; Dealers lent 3,634,800 vehicles wholesale, accounting for 13.45% of China’s automobile output last year. Among them, there were 1,158,800 new energy vehicle loans, and the accumulated loan amount was 98.603 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 90.68%.
In order to meet the needs of high-quality development of the automobile industry, this revision further includes automobile accessory financing in the business scope, allowing customers to apply for accessory financing separately after handling automobile loans. It is allowed to provide loans such as inventory purchase and maintenance equipment purchase to automobile after-sales service providers. Allow the financial leasing business in the mode of sale and leaseback, and stipulate that leaseback business must be based on the real trade background of vehicles.
"China auto industry has entered a new historical development stage, and it is necessary to adjust the business scope of auto finance companies around the changes in market structure and the transformation of growth kinetic energy in the new stage. Including strengthening financial support for the automobile after-sales market and increasing the types of financial services of after-sales service providers, it has increased financial support for the current and future development of the automobile market from multiple dimensions. " The relevant person in charge of SAIC General Motors Finance believes that this is a concrete measure to deepen the structural reform of the financial supply side and is conducive to promoting finance to better serve the real economy.
Zeng Xiaowei, a think tank expert of Rongyixue Industrial Leasing Talent Research Center, believes that this expansion of business scope will have a positive effect on promoting automobile consumption. "For example, the accessory financing business is expected to support consumers’ financing needs for updating new energy vehicle batteries in the future. In the long run, it is possible to give birth to ‘ Battery bank ’ The new format will bring new imagination to the convenience of new energy vehicle consumers and industry development and help green development. "
In addition, auto finance companies will also be allowed to set up overseas subsidiaries to provide financial services for national brand cars to explore overseas markets and support China’s auto industry to "go global". In order to implement the requirements of the opening-up policy, the restrictions on the asset size of non-financial institutions’ investors have also been lifted. "This is conducive to expanding financial opening up and supporting ‘ Belt and Road ’ Construction has laid a good foundation for building a domestic and international dual-cycle pattern of China’s automobile industry. " The relevant person in charge of SAIC General Motors Finance said.
Where reliable and low-cost money comes from is one of the most fundamental factors for auto financing companies to better play their role in supporting the real economy. At present, the financing channels of auto financing companies have extended from single bank loan and capital injection to more diversified directions. From 2020 to 2022, a total of six auto finance companies completed capital increase, and one of them completed capital increase in 2022. In 2022, 17 auto financing companies issued 44 single asset-backed securities, with a total issuance scale of 216.68 billion yuan; Two auto financing companies issued three financial bonds with a total issuance scale of 7 billion yuan. In addition, many auto finance companies actively tried to apply green financing tools. In 2022, four auto finance companies issued seven green asset-backed securities, with a total issuance scale of 22.24 billion yuan. An auto financing company issued green financial bonds with a scale of 1 billion yuan.
In the future, the financing channels of auto financing companies will be further broadened, which will help to improve their liquidity level and operational efficiency and reduce the cost of debt, thus reducing the financing costs of enterprises and individual customers and supporting the development of the real economy.
The data shows that all the supervision and management indicators of auto finance companies are in good condition at present. By the end of 2022, the industry average liquidity ratio reached 227.84%; The average capital adequacy ratio of the industry was 23.31%, an increase of 1.52 percentage points over the end of last year; The industry average non-performing loan ratio is 0.71%, which is 0.13 percentage points higher than that in 2021 due to the COVID-19 epidemic, but it is still at a relatively stable level.
