BEIJING, Oct. 14, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ChinaNet Online Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNET) ("ChinaNet" or the "Company"), a leading B2B (business to business) Internet technology company providing online-to-offline (O2O) sales channel expansion services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurial management and networking services for entrepreneurs in the People's Republic of China, today announced the launch of Zero Down Payment Loans. The product, targeted toward entrepreneurs, is being offered with Chinese financial services companies Haodai, which offers a credit product search engine, and Yooli China's leading crowdfunding services Web site.
ChinaNet is taking a leading role in the Zero Down Payment Loans offering. The product integrates banks, P2P, and security companies with reputable enterprise franchising resources. The service will significantly lower the hurdles that many entrepreneurs face and help them to realize their business objectives.
Neither Haodai nor Yooli provide loans, but focus on helping individuals and small-to-medium sized businesses screen loan opportunities in the financial markets. The new Zero Down Payment Loans product will facilitate communications between potential borrowers and lenders. ChinaNet customers will benefit significantly as many are in need of capital for expansion hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs who need capital will benefit from ChinaNet's cooperation with other financial service providers, and will be able to achieve their business goals more quickly.
ChinaNet COO George Chu says, "In 2014, the number of mobile Internet users in China exceeded 600 million, while there are approximately 200,000 physical outlets of traditional banks. These 600 million smart phones will become the new point of contact in the financial services sector. Everyone is jumping on the P2P bandwagon: private equity firms, venture capitalists, companies like Lenovo, Xiaomi and other Internet giants as well as traditional companies with physical capital and even Hong Kong developer SHK. With the advent of the big data era, personal credit information systems will gradually improve, and with these information sharing systems freely accessible, P2P will continue to grow. Such cooperation will bring an additional revenue stream to the company as P2P markets grow and expand. The beauty of this cooperation is the ability to leverage ChinaNet's existing resources, which produce daily sales leads that yield potential borrowers."
About Yooli
Founded in 2012 by a group of finance and technology professionals, the Company's goal is to become the leading crowd-funding Web site in China. Yooli is a P2P (person-to-person) online crowd-funding platform that provides financial products for Chinese microfinance investors. Individual borrowers or small business owners can submit loan applications on Yooli.com and, once approved, the applications are posted for lenders review. Borrowers pay interest on monthly basis upon receipt of the loan. (www.yooli.com)
About Haodai
Based in Beijing, Haodai offers a credit product search engine that makes it possible to identify the best loan channels and match banks and financial institutions with borrowers. Users submit a brief application and are contacted by consultants who review their needs and create customized lending solutions. The Company has facilitated approximately $16.33 million in loans, and works with more than 3000 lenders across China. (www.haodai.com)
About ChinaNet Online Holdings, Inc.
The Company, a parent company of ChinaNet Online Media Group Ltd., incorporated in the BVI ("ChinaNet"), is a leading digital B2B (business to business) Internet technology company focusing on providing RMB sales channel expansion service for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurial management and networking service for entrepreneurs in China. The Company, through certain contractual arrangements with operating companies in the PRC, provides Internet advertising and other services for Chinese SMEs via its portal websites, 28.com, Liansuo.com and Chuangye.com, TV commercials and program production via China-Net TV, and in-house LCD advertising on banking kiosks targeting Chinese banking patrons. Website: http://www.chinanet-online.com.
Safe Harbor
This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of ChinaNet Online Holdings, Inc., which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including business uncertainties relating to government regulation of our industry, market demand, reliance on key personnel, future capital requirements, competition in general and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on ChinaNet's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on the Company. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting ChinaNet will be those anticipated by ChinaNet. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of the Company) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. ChinaNet undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.