Quark Finance operates 71 borrower service centers in 47 Chinese cities, providing loan underwriting data collection and servicing. The acquisition adds to 28 borrower service centres Dianrong already operates in 27 cities in China.

Dianrong, a leader in online marketplace lending in China, originates US$500 million in monthly assets for 4 million retail lenders. The acquisition includes Credit Studio, a platform that provides mass-production credit evaluations and processing.

Soul Htite, founder and CEO of Dianrong, said: “Quark Finance is a long-time, trusted business partner of Dianrong. “Our organizations share a passion for fintech innovation, risk management and transparency.

“This acquisition will complement and enhance Dianrong's pipeline of personal and business loan assets. It will also help to us to better serve borrowers and lenders, and drive continued business growth."

Quark Finance's asset-origination employees and offices, including the Credit Studio platform, are expected to transfer to Dianrong during the third quarter of 2017.

Joseph Guo, founder and CEO of Quark Finance, said: “Dianrong's leadership, engineers and customer-focused employees are the best in fintech.

They are continuously driving innovation and creative solutions for China's marketplace lending industry. “Dianrong is the perfect home for our asset-generation platform. This move also represents another important step in the development of China's evolving credit infrastructure."

Quark Finance’s principle business segments are personal and small business loans, point-of-sale installments and auto finance.