Zhaopin, a leading career platform in China focusing on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle, announced that it has entered into a strategic cooperation with Zhong An Online P&C Insurance Co., Ltd. ("Zhong An") to jointly provide Internet financing services to university graduates and white-collar employees.
Zhaopin and Zhong An jointly developed an online student loan program that was launched in June 2015 and has so far received more than 20,000 applications and approved loans for an aggregate value of RMB150 million.
The program leverages Zhaopin’s big data management capabilities and large data pool of more than 100 million user profiles and Zhong An’s funding and credit management capabilities to assess an applicant’s creditworthiness and provide them with the financial means to pursue their studies or start up businesses post-graduation.
The strategic cooperation between the two companies will explore Internet financing opportunities that support students and job seekers throughout their career life cycle and help Zhaopin further differentiate itself from its competition as it continues to evolve into a career development platform. Based on the success of the student loan program, a new loan program for white-collar employees has been developed.
"We are pleased with the success so far of our innovative student loan program developed with Zhong An," said Mr. Evan Guo, Chief Executive Officer of Zhaopin.
"This is a great example of how our big data analysis capabilities can expand business horizons and better fulfill the needs of our job seekers throughout the different stages of their career lifecycle.
"Zhaopin’s assessment of a student’s creditworthiness can become the starting point for many individuals’ personal credit record. By cooperating with Zhong An and leveraging the strong shareholder support it has from Alibaba and Tencent, we will continue to grow our presence in the Internet financing market to create new solutions for our users."
Zhong An is the first online-only insurance company in China and conducts all of its business, ranging from underwriting to claims settlements, online without operating any physical branches. It was jointly launched in 2013 by Ant Financial Services Group (Alibaba), Tencent Holdings, and Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.
As of April 30, 2015, Zhong An offers more than 100 insurance products and has underwritten more than 1.6 billion policies for more than 250 million customers. It also offers e-commerce, mobile payment, and financing guarantees for internet businesses and users.