Data Source_P2P Lending Platforms in Malaysia: What Do We Know?

With the recent evolution of Fintech, 11 peers to peer (P2P) lending platforms have been regulated by the Securities Commission in Malaysia since 2016. P2P lending platforms offer new investment opportunities to individual investors to earn higher rates of return than what traditional lenders normally offer. However, individual investors may face higher potential risks of default from their borrowers. Therefore, to make an effective investment decision, it is essential for individual investors to understand the potential exposure to such P2P lending platforms. This study aims to explore potential exposures that individual investors may experience at the licensed P2P lending platforms in Malaysia. Using manually collected data set available at 9 P2P lending platforms over a five-month period, relationships between interest rates and various risk classifying factors such as credit rating, industry, business stage, loan purpose and loan duration, are examined. Findings show that loans with a similar credit rating; and/or loan purpose; and/or a business stage may offer investors significantly different interest rates. In addition, loans with shorter durations may offer investors higher interest rates as compared to those with longer durations. Finally, loans issued by companies from the same industry appeared to be charged with similar interest. These findings are believed to be valuable to investors to prepare themselves before making their investments at the P2P lending platforms. With a first-hand collected data, this study provides a very first and original insight of the current P2P lending platforms in Malaysia.

随着金融科技（Fintech）的近年发展，马来西亚证券委员会自2016年起已对11家点对点（Peer-to-Peer，简称P2P）借贷平台实施监管。此类P2P借贷平台为个人投资者提供了相较于传统借贷机构更高回报率的新型投资机遇，但与此同时，个人投资者也可能面临借款人违约带来的更高潜在风险。因此，为做出合理有效的投资决策，个人投资者有必要充分了解参与此类P2P借贷平台可能面临的潜在风险敞口。本研究旨在探究个人投资者在马来西亚持牌P2P借贷平台中可能遭遇的各类潜在风险敞口。本研究使用手动采集自马来西亚9家P2P借贷平台、覆盖5个月周期的数据集，对贷款利率与信用评级、所属行业、经营阶段、贷款用途及贷款期限等各类风险分类因子之间的关联展开分析检验。研究结果显示，信用评级、贷款用途或经营阶段任意一项或多项相似的贷款，可能为投资者带来差异显著的贷款利率；此外，相较于长期限贷款，短期限贷款往往能为投资者提供更高的贷款利率；最后，同一行业企业发放的贷款，其适用的利率水平往往较为接近。上述研究结果可为投资者在P2P借贷平台开展投资前的筹备工作提供重要参考价值。本研究基于一手采集的数据集，首次为马来西亚当前的P2P借贷行业提供了原创性的洞察视角。