Eagle Holdings to enter the Internet financing sector

Eagle Holdings, a well known private conglomerate, announced its plan to step into the Internet financing sector on Tuesday.

Eagle Finance Services, the Group's new subsidiary besides the well-known Gome Electronic Appliance and China Eagle Real Estate, will provide financial services for individual customers and suppliers, according to the company's top management.

To expand its business, Eagle Finance Services obtained resources from Gome, including purchasing statistics and business partners. Eagle Holdings holds more than 1,000 retail chain stores of Gome Electronic Appliance across China.

"Gome has more than 200 million purchasing records through the retail business, that is the valuable big data for us in developing consumer finance products," said Yang Wei, CEO of Eagle Finance Services.

For example, Eagle Finance Services plans to provide installment loans for Gome's customers, based on their consuming records at Gome online and chain stores.

Eagle Finance Services also looks at the supplier chain finance, seeing a market among the group's business partners in retail and real estate industries. Since late September, sellers at Gome online can request for credit approval, according to Yang Wei.

"More than half of the small and medium sized enterprises in China find it hard to get loans from the banks，and they also have to deal with the payment terms," said Huang Xiuhong, Chairperson of Eagle Holdings. According to China Eagle, their supplier chain finance business will serve those enterprises.

As the new player in Internet-based financing, Eagle Finance Services plans to break in with the experiences in retail and real estate business. The first product launched on Tuesday is a financial management product based on real estate, the traditional field of China Eagle real estate.

With business in retail and real estate industries, Eagle Holdings wants to integrate its resources to become more productive, and the Internet-based financing is seen as a method. But Huang Xiuhong also sees potential business beyond Eagle Holdings.

"To make the hard transition of mindset, 99 percent of Eagle Finance Services employees are recruited outside the group," said Huang Xiuhong, "It is not a platform only for Gome or China Eagle, but a inclusive and professional one."

Du Han contributed to the story