Chinanews client, Beijing, March 27th (Zuo Yukun) Buying a house with a loan in the name of doing business?
No way!
On March 26, the General Office of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the General Office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the General Office of the People's Bank of China issued a notice on preventing business loans from illegally flowing into the real estate sector to crack down on illegal business loans from entering the property market.
Data map: Aerial photography of the real estate project on the west coast of Haikou.
Photo by Luo Yunfei
Why should we crack down on business loans into the property market?
The notice mentioned that some companies and individuals have recently invested business loans in the real estate sector in violation of regulations. The problem is prominent, affecting the effect of real estate control policies and squeezing credit resources to support the development of the real economy, especially small and micro enterprises.
According to Pan Hao, a senior analyst at the Shell Research Institute, since the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, government departments have introduced a series of financial preferential policies to stabilize economic development and reduce the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises.
However, real estate speculators have used the regulatory space to pay for the purchase of houses through operating loans. Hot cities have seen a relatively obvious trend of overheating, and there has been a vicious circle between "market overheating" and "violating funds" entering the market, increasing real estate financial risks .
Since the beginning of 2021, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and many other places have launched "encirclement and suppression" actions against illegal misappropriation of business loans and real estate speculation.
Recently, the Beijing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau notified that banks within its jurisdiction have conducted self-examinations on the compliance of personal business loans issued since the second half of 2020, and discovered that the amount of personal business loans suspected of illegally flowing into the Beijing real estate market is about 340 million yuan. .
In addition, investigations by relevant departments in Guangdong found that banking institutions within their jurisdiction (excluding Shenzhen) were suspected of illegally flowing into the real estate market with a problematic loan amount of 277 million yuan.
Yan Yuejin, research director of the Think Tank Center of E-House Research Institute, said, “This is the first time that the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and other departments have systematically controlled operating loans, which further reflects the strict and strict guidance of the real estate market.”
Data map: real estate.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Bin
How to prevent business loans from entering the property market in violation of regulations?
The notice requires that, first, the verification of the qualifications of the borrower shall be strengthened.
Effectively strengthen the "three inspections" of loans for business purposes, implement various credit approval requirements, and not grant business loans to shell enterprises without actual operations.
The second is to strengthen the review of credit demand, conduct a penetrating and substantive review of the demand for loans for business purposes, and must not relax the review of real loan demand due to sufficient mortgages, and must not grant business performance to companies whose capital flow does not match their operating conditions. loan.
The third is to strengthen loan term management, and the loan term must be reasonably determined according to the actual needs of the borrower.
The internal management of loans for business purposes with a maturity of more than 3 years shall be further strengthened to ensure that the funds are actually used for business operations, and so on.
"This policy clarifies the concept of a'shell company', and this is the first time that the name of a small and micro enterprise that has no actual operation has been clarified." Yan Yuejin said that shell companies do have suspicions of defrauding loans and investing funds in real estate in violation of regulations.
Similar shell companies will face greater scrutiny in the future.
In addition, the notice also requires to focus on reviewing the rationality of the financing needs for operating loans in the short term after the completion of the real estate transaction, and prudently determine the loan collateral ratio if the mortgager holds the mortgaged real estate for less than one year.
If the mortgagor holds the mortgaged real estate for less than 3 years, the banking financial institution shall regularly check the loan usage and keep the check records.
"In the process of real estate speculation in the past two years, there has been a practice, that is, first borrow to buy a house and then use mortgage to obtain funds. This is a very hidden mode of fraudulent loans. The current practice of regulating this type of mortgage will help Crack down on the real estate speculation model of'buying a house-mortgage-financing-buying a house again'." Yan Yuejin said.
Data map: A real estate development under construction.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Bin
How to prevent illegal operations inside and outside the bank?
"Rectifying ghosts in banks is an important prerequisite for rectifying business loan chaos." Li Yujia, chief researcher of the Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, believes that "business loans can flow into the property market, and credit review can pass. One of the main reasons lies in the internal banks. The wealth management managers and account managers of the company cooperate with external financial intermediaries (small loan companies, private equity funds, investment and wealth management platforms, housekeepers, etc.) and real estate intermediaries to jointly obtain funds."
In order to prevent collusion between internal and external banks and illegal operations, the notice requires banking financial institutions to implement their main responsibilities, further strengthen their compliance awareness and prudent business philosophy, carefully sort out the operating procedures of business loans, tighten the system cage, and effectively strengthen internal accountability.
At the same time, banks should strengthen the monitoring and analysis of loans for branch operations.
It is necessary to strengthen the monitoring of abnormal behaviors of employees, strictly prevent internal and external collusion, and strictly hold accountable persons who violate laws and regulations in accordance with the law.
At the same time, all banking financial institutions should formulate access standards for various intermediary institutions and establish a "white list" of cooperative institutions.
Intermediary agencies that assist borrowers in obtaining loans for business purposes shall not cooperate, and shall submit the list of relevant agencies to the relevant local administrative departments, and promptly hand over to the judicial organs that have violated the law.
Data map: Workers on a construction site are busy.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Lang
What are the penalties for illegally embezzling business loans to buy a house?
The notice requires that real estate intermediaries shall not provide buyers with or cooperate with other institutions to provide consultation and services on financial products such as mortgage business loans, and shall not induce buyers to use funds for business purposes in violation of regulations; when providing brokerage services for the sale and purchase of new houses and second-hand houses, Buyers should be required to promise in writing that there is no problem of embezzlement of bank credit funds for the purchase of houses.
At the same time, banking financial institutions must further tighten the post-loan management of loans.
Banking financial institutions should inform the borrower in writing of the legal risks and related impacts of using credit funds for house purchases in violation of regulations. When signing a loan agreement with the borrower, they should sign a letter of commitment for the use of funds, clarifying that once the loan is found to be misappropriated in the real estate sector The loan will be recovered immediately, the credit line will be reduced, and corresponding legal liabilities will be pursued.
There are precedents for "mandatory withdrawal".
The Shenzhen Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau and the People’s Bank of China Shenzhen Central Sub-branch notified the results of the special verification of operating loans on March 18: 21 loans with a value of 51.8 million yuan for suspected violations have been recovered ahead of time, 4 institutions that violated regulations were punished, and the persons responsible for violations were punished 14 The total amount of punishment was 5.75 million yuan.
The notice also clarified that local housing and urban-rural construction departments have established a "blacklist" of real estate intermediary agencies and personnel violations to increase penalties and accountability and make regular disclosures.
The heads of relevant departments of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the People’s Bank of China responded to reporters’ questions and said that in the future, the illegal inflow of loans for business purposes into real estate and other related issues should be regarded as important content of various inspections, strictly accountable according to law, and strengthen joint punishment , Incorporate information on administrative penalties related to illegal misappropriation of business loans by enterprises and individuals into the credit investigation system in a timely manner.
Will the property market cool down? Will house prices fall?
According to the notice, the three departments require all banking and insurance regulatory bureaus, local housing and urban-rural construction departments, and branches of the People’s Bank to jointly carry out a special investigation on the illegal inflow of business loans into real estate, and complete the investigation before May 31, 2021, and add Supervise and urge rectification and punishment of violations.
"In the first quarter, the property market heated up, especially in the first-tier cities. A very important factor was the inflow of operating loans into the real estate market." Wang Xiaoqian, an analyst at the Zhuge Real Estate Data Research Center, believes that a strict investigation of the inflow of operating loans into the real estate market has an impact on the real estate market. The healthy and stable development of China has positive significance.
According to Zhang Bo, the dean of 58 Anju Guest House Property Research Institute, the policy aims to reduce real estate investment demand, promote the return of real estate to residential properties, and effectively prevent risks in the real estate market.
The policy has also released a signal of continued tightening of the real estate financial side, and the management and control of the real estate financial side will become an important part of the long-term real estate mechanism.
"The investigation and punishment of the illegal inflow of business loans into the property market has risen from the city to the central government, which will be more conducive to plugging loopholes and cooling down the overheated property market in some cities." Pan Hao said.
(Finish)