JD Finance service for college students closes as China’s fintech industry continues retreat amid regulatory tightening

The financial services arm of JD.com will no longer offer specialised services to college students, instead shifting them to the normal JD Finance app

JD Technology introduced a youth mode to its finance app while fintech was booming, but the industry took a sharp turn after the scuttled Ant Group IPO

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A man stands outside JD.com’s headquarters, amid the Singles’ Day shopping festival during an organised tour in Beijing on November 9, 2021. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:00pm, 17 Feb 2022

The financial services arm of China’s second-largest e-commerce company JD.com will stop operating a student mode within its app next month, in the latest sign of retreat in China’s fintech industry amid tightening regulations.

The youth version of JD Finance, operated by JD Technology, will go offline on March 22, according to a notice in the app. Existing users will be automatically switched to the standard version within the same app.

JD Technology launched the specialised mode in 2018 as a way to target college students with specialised services such as lower interest rates and discounts on daily necessities. Its demise is part of a “business adjustment”, according to the notice. JD.com declined to comment.

The closure comes after more than a year of setbacks for the fintech industry in China, where regulators have moved to reel in technology firms’ reach and influence. This is especially true regarding financial services, as regulators have raised concerns about risks to the banking system.

When JD Finance launched its student version, China’s fintech industry was booming. A turning point came at the end of 2020 when rival Ant Group, the operator of Alipay, was forced to halt its initial public offering. Since then, JD Finance sought to keep a lower profile, changing its name to JD Technology from JD Digits in January last year and pulling a planned IPO in mainland China. It is now seeking to list in Hong Kong.

JD Finance remains a consumer-oriented financial service brand owned by the e-commerce giant. It has released nearly 10,000 financial products covering personal wealth management, credit and insurance services, and has accumulated around 420 million users, according to its website.

Last April, financial regulators summoned 13 fintech platform operators including Tencent Holdings, Baidu, TikTok owner ByteDance and JD Technology, ordering them to rectify online payment services, which included taking measures to “disconnect payment tools and other financial products” and ensuring the “prudent development” of loans and insurance businesses.