Halyk Consumer Finance's complaints in the third quarter increased nearly 200% year-on-year, while the major shareholder Harbin Bank's net profit in the first half of the year declined by over 40%.

Recently, the Heilongjiang Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau reported on the consumer complaints related to banking and insurance for the first three quarters of 2022. The data shows that in the first three quarters of 2022, the Heilongjiang Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau and the city-level banking and insurance regulatory bureaus received a total of 2,639 consumer complaints in the banking sector, an increase of 5.01% year-on-year; of which, other banking financial institutions accounted for 373 complaints, a year-on-year increase of 258.65%, making up 14.14% of the total complaints in the banking sector.

According to the data, in the first, second, and third quarters of this year, Harbin Bank Consumer Finance (referred to as “Harbin Consumer Finance”) received 96, 73, and 52 complaints respectively. Although there was a decrease quarter-on-quarter, the total number of complaints for the first three quarters reached 221, representing a year-on-year increase of 198.65%, compared to 74 complaints in the same period last year. Moreover, Blue Whale Finance found that according to disclosures, the total number of complaints for Harbin Consumer Finance last year was 163, with a year-on-year increase of 340%.

The official website indicates that Harbin Consumer Finance was initiated by Harbin Bank as the main investor and is the 19th licensed consumer finance company to open in the country. The company officially commenced operations in April 2017, and after introducing strategic investment from Baidu’s Du Xiaoman Financial in 2019, its registered capital increased to 1.5 billion RMB.

According to Tianyancha, Harbin Consumer Finance currently has seven shareholders, with Harbin Bank Co., Ltd. being the largest shareholder, holding 53%. Other shareholders include Du Xiaoman (Chongqing) Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Stafford Real Estate Co., Ltd., Suzhou Tongcheng Software Co., Ltd., Beijing Boshen Advantage Technology Development Co., Ltd., Heilongjiang Saige International Trade Co., Ltd., and Heilongjiang Xinda Auction Co., Ltd., holding 30%, 6.33%, 5%, 3.33%, 1.67%, and 0.67% respectively.

Harbin Consumer Finance has not published its performance information for 2022 on its official website, but as the main initiator, Harbin Bank disclosed relevant data for Harbin Consumer Finance in its mid-year report this year.

As of June 30, 2022, the total assets of Harbin Consumer Finance amounted to 14.251 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 2.62%, with a loan balance of 13.681 billion RMB, an increase of 4.92% compared to the beginning of the year and a year-on-year increase of 2.90%; the cumulative number of serviced clients exceeded 32 million, with cumulative loans surpassing 140 billion RMB.

It is worth mentioning that Tianyancha shows that the company has shareholders whose equity has been frozen. In September 2020 and April 2021, the entire equity held by Heilongjiang Saige International Trade Co., Ltd. in Harbin Consumer Finance was frozen twice, with the executing courts being the Harbin Intermediate Court and the Harbin Court respectively.

Moreover, Harbin Consumer Finance was first included in the abnormal business operations list by market regulatory authorities in the second half of this year, due to the reason “failed to disclose annual reports within the time limit as stipulated in Article 8 of the Interim Regulations on the Disclosure of Enterprise Information.” The inclusion date was July 1, and the decision-making agency was the Heilongjiang Provincial Market Supervision Administration. Subsequently, Harbin Consumer Finance announced that it had completed the confirmation procedures for the previous year’s annual report in the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System on the 12th of the same month, and the company has been removed from the “abnormal business operations list,” with all business operations and management normal.

In addition, data from the Black Cat Complaint Platform shows that Harbin Consumer Finance currently has a cumulative complaint volume of 294, with most complaints related to collection issues.

Aside from Harbin Consumer Finance, the performance of its largest shareholder, Harbin Bank, is also not satisfactory. The data shows that in the first half of 2022, the bank’s operating income was 6.993 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 14%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was 495 million RMB, a year-on-year decline of 41.89%. In terms of asset quality, as of the first half of 2022, the bank’s non-performing loan ratio was 2.95%, an increase of 0.07 percentage points compared to the end of the previous year, with a provision coverage ratio of 174.67%, an increase of 12.22 percentage points compared to the end of the previous year.

As of June 30, 2022, Harbin Bank’s total assets amounted to 661.6549 billion RMB, with total customer loans and advances of 287.0476 billion RMB and total customer deposits of 509.5103 billion RMB. Meanwhile, the bank’s capital adequacy indicators have all declined, with a core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio of 8.87%, a Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio of 10.84%, and a capital adequacy ratio of 12%, down 0.41, 0.49, and 0.54 percentage points respectively compared to the end of the previous year.

In terms of complaints, according to the Heilongjiang Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau’s report, in the first three quarters of 2022, Harbin Bank had 242 complaints, a year-on-year increase of 22.84%, ranking third among banking consumer complaints.

The official website shows that Harbin Bank (06138.HK) was established in February 1997, headquartered in Harbin, and currently has 17 branches. On March 31, 2014, Harbin Bank was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the third city commercial bank in China to enter the Hong Kong capital market and the first listed commercial bank in Northeast China.