The Empirical Analysis Of The Influence Of Information Disclosure On P2P Platform Operation

Peer-to-Peer online lending is the combination of Internet and Finance Innovation.Because of its characteristics of low threshold,high return,great flexibility and convenience,it develops to be the important portion of Chinese Internet Finance System.The development of P2P lending offers the borrowers short-term funds and the investors new opportunities to invest.However,under the situation of fierce competition and lack of regulation,P2P market is faced with high risks.Especially,since 2013,many P2P platforms have closed down,which decreases the confidence of investors.There is no doubt that the information asymmetry is the main reason that leads to the investors' panic.Because P2P platform is the only source where investors can get access to the information they need to make decisions.In a word,information disclosure is extremely significant in the P2P online lending market,which most of the P2P platforms ignore.On August 24th,2017,China Banking Regulatory Commission enacted the regulation on the information disclosure of P2P platforms.However,since then,the situation has not become better.The information which P2P platform disclosed is still far from regulatory.Apparently,many platforms pay little attention to information disclosure,which results in their reluctance in information disclosure.So the research of the influence of information disclosure on P2P platform operation can arise people's attention to information disclosure and encourage them to disclose information more actively.And also with more information,it is much easier for investors to choose which platforms to spend their money on.The research also gives supervision departments some advice to lead the online lending market more normative.This thesis captures data of 5118 P2P platforms by Python to analyze the current situation of information disclosure and platform operation.The thesis finds out that although regulatory policy has been enacted more than half a year,the current situation of information disclosure of P2P platform is far from optimistic.The degree of information asymmetry in the market is still high.Plenty of platforms are unaware of the importance of information disclosure on their benign operation.The operation of the platform of different information disclosure level is further analyzed.It is found that the probability of the problem platform decreases with the improvement of the disclosure of information.Base on the Information Asymmetry Theory and the Signaling Theory,this thesis analyzed the influence of information disclosure on platform operation.Moreover,from two aspects of internal and external,this thesis analyzes the four effects of information disclosure on platform operation:platform competition effect,platform value effect,investor decision making effect and resource allocation effect.In the empirical part,the thesis puts forward four research hypotheses based on the theoretical analysis.Then,based on the data of 718 P2P platforms,this thesis verifies the relationship between information disclosure and platform operation and arrives at these conclusions:(1)There is a positive relationship between information disclosure and platform operation.The more information one platform discloses,the more investors the platform will attract,and the better the platform will operate.(2)Superior platforms and inferior platforms both can improve their popularity and operation through information disclosure.(3)Financial information reflects the operation of the platform directly.It plays an important role in attracting investors and promoting the platform's operation.(4)Nonfinancial information implies the potential risks of one platform,which is valuable to investors and can improve the operating efficiency of the platform.Finally,this thesis introduces several policy suggestions:first,establish the P2P platform information disclosure accountability system,define the main responsibilities and punish the illegal behaviors.Second,establish the complaints and litigation mechanism to encourage investors to protect their rights.Third,establish the information disclosure examination and verification system to make sure the timeliness,authenticity,veracity and integrality of the information disclosure.