Industry News | 36 batches of mobile financial apps have been filed for the record, covering various types of institutions such as banks, payments, and insurance

Reporter Li Bing from this newspaper

As of April 28, since the China Internet Finance Association (hereinafter referred to as "the Association") carried out the real name filing of mobile financial client application software (App), a total of 36 batches of nearly 2500 mobile financial apps have been filed.

The released filing list covers various types of institutions such as banks, payment institutions, licensed consumer finance, insurance, small loan institutions, and fintech companies. This also means that the association's mobile finance app has achieved phased results in self regulatory management work such as real name filing, risk monitoring, and complaint handling.

In addition, according to sorting, out of the nearly 2500 mobile finance apps in the six batches mentioned above, 55 apps have completed registration since the beginning of this year alone, including Nanyin Faba Consumer Finance, Ningyin Wealth Management, Ningyin Consumer Finance, Bohai Securities Comprehensive App, Hehefu, Yanqing Rural Bank, etc.

Gan Yutao, Executive Director of Beijing Xinke Financial Development Research Institute, told Securities Daily, "Currently, the governance of mobile financial apps in China presents two characteristics. Firstly, the association has a comprehensive and strict process for institutional filing and review, and the coverage of financial institution types and scope continues to expand. Secondly, user security and privacy protection have become key regulatory directions. Overall, regulatory authorities have achieved phased results in improving the security and compliance capabilities of mobile financial apps."

According to the 2023 Financial App Market Governance and Development Report, as of the end of 2023, the association has achieved an average year-on-year decrease of 33.6% in data security issues, 29.8% in security protection issues, 5.9% in personal information collection and use issues, and a year-on-year decrease in the number of average permission applications for a single app through self-discipline management measures such as audit and evaluation, risk monitoring, and disclosure of violations.

In fact, currently, multiple parties are working together to promote the compliance development of mobile financial apps. For example, on April 7th, the Chongqing Regulatory Bureau of the State Administration for Financial Supervision and Administration, the Chongqing Local Financial Administration, and the Chongqing Communications Administration jointly issued a notice on promoting the improvement of personal information protection and compliance management capabilities of financial service apps; Last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a number of App (SDK) Notices on Infringement of User Rights, naming dozens of mobile Internet application apps and third-party software development kits (SDKs) for infringing user rights.

In October 2021, the association also issued a notice on the failure to implement the self-discipline management requirements for the filing of mobile finance client application software. At that time, there were still 17 mobile finance app providers who did not complete the relevant rectification work within the specified time, and they requested that those who did not handle it within the time limit would be suspended from filing until the filing was cancelled.

Respondents generally believe that the current compliance development in the mobile finance app industry still faces some challenges. Gan Yutao said, "Currently, financial service apps have shown a trend of on-site scene and ecology. The sensitive information processing, data security, and privacy protection involved in apps, such as customer data, transaction data, and fund flows, are challenges that institutions face. In addition, some financial institutions lack sufficient attention to the security of collecting massive market data from app databases, and their app network defense is insufficient. Faced with rapid technological development, security issues cannot be ignored."

According to Wang Pengbo, Chief Analyst of Broadcom Consulting, "The governance of mobile financial apps has achieved good phased results, and the management of various mobile financial apps is on the right track. Institutions should continue to focus on key issues such as data security and personal information protection. Regulatory efforts should further increase the investigation and governance of violations, and promote the continuous improvement of the industry's personal information protection governance level."

Gan Yutao suggests that in the future, the industry should strengthen the establishment of self-discipline and coordination mechanisms to achieve full chain governance of mobile financial apps. At the same time, introducing the latest regulatory technologies and utilizing cutting-edge technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to improve regulatory efficiency and accuracy. Assist regulatory authorities in real-time monitoring market dynamics and risks, improving response speed and predictive ability.

The above content is sourced from Securities Daily