New | Detailed regulations to be issued by China for P2P lenders within a month

Peer-to-peer lending platforms in China are bracing for regulations including new licensing rules as early as the end of this month.

P2P lenders could be regulated as financial institutions, a new level of regulation for the industry that could push platform operators to gain licensing, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Monday.

Regulators could issue detailed rules at the end of this month or early next month, the newspaper said.

Industry insiders confirmed that new rules were on the horizon and that companies were preparing.

Talk of a new level of oversight for P2P lending had circulated in recent days, said Wu Xianyong, the chief executive of Shenzhen Touna Financial Services, a P2P lender. Adding stronger rules to a business that doubled in size last year was not a negative signal for the industry, he said.

Licensing would become a hurdle for all industry players and might weed out some of the bad seeds that had damaged the sector's reputation.