Ride-hail and financials companies collaborate in China

Didi Kuaidi, China's top car-hailing app, has partnered with China Merchants Bank to offer car financing to its 14 million drivers. China Merchants has made a significant investment in Didi, joining China Investment Corp, Alibaba, Tencent and Beijing Automotive Group as investors. President of Didi, Liu Qing said the partnership will provide automobile financing for Didi drivers for them to buy new cars by instalments. In addition to this, Didi is working with China Merchants Bank to launch credit and debit cards in Q2, to help the bank expand its services in the mobile payment market, which is currently dominated by WePay and Alipay. 

Didi president Liu Qing says car sharing is a solution to traffic jams as it reduces the number of cars on roads. Photo: AFP