Chongqing Bank Halts Three Co-Lending Products, Retains Only Risk-Sharing WeBank Microloan

Chongqing Bank has updated its official list of personal internet loan products, marking a rare and decisive shift in how it structures partnerships with online platforms.

According to the bank's website, a list updated on September 15 shows that three products—Meituan's "Living Expenses" (生活费), Meituan's "Business Loan" (生意贷), and JD.com's "Gold Bar" (金条)—have been labeled as "discontinued." The only product retained is "WeiLiDai" (微粒贷), operated in partnership with Shenzhen Qianhai WeBank, which is now explicitly categorized as a "joint funding (non-co-lending)" model.

Industry observers note that this approach is uncommon. It marks the first time a city commercial bank has clearly distinguished between co-lending and joint funding models in its public product disclosures, completely ending co-lending partnerships while retaining only risk-sharing arrangements. Previous adjustments by peers have typically involved "full withdrawal from cooperative loans" or "reducing the number of partner institutions," rather than categorizing by business type.

Product-by-Product Breakdown

According to the bank's disclosure, the adjustment involves four cooperative personal internet loan products. Key details are as follows:

| Product | Partner | Business Model | Loan Amount | Interest Rate (APR) | Status | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | WeiLiDai | WeBank | Joint funding (non-co-lending) | Up to 200,000 RMB | Up to 21.6% | Retained | | Meituan "Living Expenses" | SanKuai XiaoDai, LiangXin JinCheng | Co-lending + co-lending hybrid | Up to 200,000 RMB | Up to 24% | Discontinued | | Meituan "Business Loan" | SanKuai XiaoDai, LiangXin JinCheng | Co-lending + co-lending hybrid | Up to 500,000 RMB | Up to 24% | Discontinued | | JD.com "Gold Bar" | YunHan Information, SuQian ZhaoKe | Pure co-lending | Up to 200,000 RMB | Up to 24% | Discontinued |

How the Models Differ

• WeiLiDai (Joint Funding): Chongqing Bank and WeBank jointly act as lenders, providing funds in proportion to their respective contributions, collecting interest on their respective shares, and sharing responsibilities for post-loan collection and dispute resolution.
• Meituan Products (Co-lending Hybrid): Chongqing Bank provides funds and is responsible for loan approval and post-loan risk monitoring. SanKuai XiaoDai provides funds and handles customer acquisition and marketing, while jointly managing post-loan activities. LiangXin JinCheng handles customer acquisition, marketing, and collection.
• JD.com "Gold Bar" (Pure Co-lending): All funds come from Chongqing Bank. YunHan Information handles customer acquisition and marketing, and participates in post-loan management. SuQian ZhaoKe is responsible for collection.

A notable detail: the three discontinued products have an interest rate cap of 24%, while the retained WeiLiDai product has a cap of 21.6%. All products offer differentiated pricing based on customer credit profiles, with actual rates displayed on loan application pages.

The Core Difference: Risk Sharing

Chongqing Bank's choice between co-lending and joint funding reflects a fundamental difference in risk allocation between the two models. Industry experts identify four common types of internet loan cooperation models:

1. Pure Co-lending: Platforms leverage traffic, scenarios, and user data for customer acquisition, initial screening, and some post-loan services. Banks provide funds, conduct independent approval, and manage risk independently. The platform bears virtually no credit risk, with bad debts ultimately recorded on the bank's balance sheet. This is often summarized as "the bank provides the money, the platform provides the people."

1. Joint Loans: Banks and licensed institutions (e.g., small-loan companies, consumer finance companies) jointly provide funds and issue loans according to an agreed-upon ratio. Both parties contribute actual capital.

1. Joint Funding: Both parties share risks and rewards in proportion to their capital contributions. Typically, the partner's contribution to a single loan must be at least 30%. The bank must still independently complete risk assessment and credit approval.

1. Bank Self-operated: The bank uses its own channels for customer acquisition, conducts independent risk control, and provides all funding, without relying on external partners.

Among these, co-lending has long been dominant. Industry insiders point out that the model persists because of complementary strengths: banks have capital and licenses but lack high-frequency consumer credit scenarios, while platforms have traffic, scenarios, and data but lack low-cost funding and lending qualifications. Co-lending allowed both sides to benefit, driving rapid industry growth.

However, the risk implications are fundamentally different. In co-lending, bad debts are primarily borne by the bank, while platform profits are tied to loan volume—a structure that can incentivize "scale over risk control." In joint funding, partners must commit real capital and share losses proportionally, aligning risk appetites and risk-control investments. This model is seen as more aligned with regulatory guidance emphasizing "banks' primary responsibility for independent risk control."

It is worth noting that joint funding is not without barriers. Local法人 banks are generally prohibited from conducting internet loans across their registered jurisdictions. Both parties must also meet regulatory requirements such as capital adequacy, single-partner concentration limits, and total internet loan caps. These conditions make the model difficult for all institutions to replicate universally.

Retail Asset Quality Pressure

Chongqing Bank's decision to adjust its co-lending partnerships may be linked to pressure on its retail asset quality.

According to its 2026 semi-annual report, the bank's overall operations remained stable:

• Total assets: 1,108.909 billion RMB as of June 30, up 7.27% from end-2025.
• H1 revenue: 84.86 billion RMB, up 10.79% year-on-year.
• Net profit attributable to shareholders: 35.18 billion RMB, up 10.29% year-on-year.
• Overall NPL ratio: 1.11%, down 0.03 percentage points from end-2025.

However, the retail segment contracted and showed deteriorating quality:

• Retail loan principal: 88.554 billion RMB as of June 30, down 8.148 billion RMB (8.43%) from end-2025.
• Retail loan share of total loans: Fell from 18.28% to 15.27%.
• Retail loan NPL ratio: Rose to 3.32%, up 0.09 percentage points from end-2025 (3.23% at end-2025; 1.98% in 2023).
• Retail NPL balance: Approximately 2.94 billion RMB.
• Corporate loan NPL ratio: Only 0.76%.

One Year After the Co-Lending New Rules

Chongqing Bank's adjustment takes on greater significance when viewed against the broader industry backdrop. In October 2025, the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Commercial Banks' Internet Co-Lending Business to Improve the Quality and Efficiency of Financial Services" (commonly known as the "Co-Lending New Rules") took effect. It requires banks' headquarters to implement list-based management of platform operators and credit enhancement service providers, and to disclose and dynamically update these lists on official websites. The new rules are approaching their one-year anniversary.

In the past year, several banks have announced the cessation or reduction of internet co-lending partnerships:

• Urumqi Bank: Stopped issuing cooperative personal internet consumer loans (including joint loans and co-lending) from October 1, 2025, involving 9 platform operators and 8 credit enhancement service providers.
• Longjiang Bank: Its disclosed list shows its sole platform operator partner is now marked as "cooperation terminated."
• Ganzhou Bank: All three institutions on its list are marked "cooperation terminated."
• Jiaxing Bank and Wenzhou Bank: Have also announced the cessation of internet loan cooperation on their official websites.
• Guiyang Bank: Suspended new internet co-lending business.
• Jilin Yilian Bank: Significantly reduced the number of partner institutions.
• Weihai Blue Ocean Bank: A list disclosed in March 2026 shows 40 institutions marked as "suspended."

Notably, unlike some banks that have taken a "one-size-fits-all" approach to exiting cooperative loans, Chongqing Bank has retained joint funding partnerships while ending co-lending. This effectively preserves a path that aligns risk sharing with rights and responsibilities.

In recent years, regulators have introduced a series of policies requiring lenders to strengthen their primary risk-control responsibilities and address issues such as unreasonable pricing mechanisms and inadequate consumer protection. Meanwhile, industry self-regulatory organizations are promoting the implementation of specific business standards.

On September 18, five industry associations, including the China Internet Finance Association, jointly issued the "Self-Regulatory Standards for Transparent Comprehensive Financing Costs in Personal Loan Business." The standards clarify operational requirements for disclosing comprehensive financing costs, aiming to further standardize and increase transparency in personal loan fees and interest.

Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst at Botong Consulting, noted three key elements of the self-regulatory standards:

1. Explicitly prohibits the use of "daily interest rate" or "monthly fee rate" for conceptual packaging.
2. Reinforces the primary responsibility of lending institutions, even when business is conducted through internet platforms.
3. Provides standardized disclosure templates for various business scenarios, offering directly reusable templates for the entire industry.

Wang expects the cleanup of the co-lending industry to proceed smoothly, with non-compliant institutions gradually exiting. Once institutions complete compliance rectification, industry operations are expected to enter a new stable state.

Looking ahead, the co-lending industry is shifting from "broad coverage" to "precise selection." Capital and resources are concentrating among top-tier platforms, while the survival space for smaller and mid-tier platforms is narrowing—a classic Matthew effect. As the first city commercial bank to explicitly distinguish between co-lending and joint funding in its official disclosures, whether Chongqing Bank's approach will be adopted by more peers, and whether it can truly address its own shortcomings in self-operated business and customer acquisition, remains to be seen. The industry's true transformation may have only just begun, and its future direction warrants continued observation.