Say an emergency has popped up and you need a bit more cash than you have at the moment, what can you do? You could always ask friends or family, or if this report from DigiTimes is to be believed, it seems that you could potentially ask Xiaomi to lend you money as well. According to the publication which cites a report from Beijing Business Today, it seems that Xiaomi is reportedly planning to enter into the money lending business.
Apparently the company is planning to invest as much as $50 million in this business and will apparently allow customers to apply to lines of credit for up to CNY30,000 which is a little under $5,000. The loans can applied through the customer’s smartphone although at this point it is unclear as to whether it will only be for Xiaomi phone owners or if anything can apply for the loan.
The company is also predicting that the amount of outstanding loans that could be accrued by the end of 2015 will amount to CNY2 billion which is a little over $300 million. They are also predicting that the amount will rise to as much as CNY75 billion by 2017, so safe to say that the $50 million initial investment into the company will not be enough.
It is unclear as to what Xiaomi’s motivations are for creating such a service. There are no indications that it could help them further their smartphone business, but if Xiaomi is planning to branch out into other industries, like the financial industries, then perhaps this is one way to go about it.
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