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Negative interest on credit When it suddenly costs you to save

As of: 06/18/2021 8:58 a.m.

Up to now, banks have mainly charged new customers with negative interest rates. It also affects existing customers more and more frequently. Consumer advocates advise to be clear about what you want to do with the money.

From Iris Völlnagel, SWR

Anger and complaints from consumers are part of everyday life for Josephine Holzhäuser, financial expert at the consumer center in Rhineland-Palatinate. But since the beginning of the year, more and more consumers have come to her who have left their financial institutions “betrayed and sold” feel. The reason: More and more banks and savings banks are introducing negative interest rates on current and savings accounts.

More than 345 institutes collect negative interest

Many older people, but also younger ones, now sought advice from consumer advocates. Most of them have been customers for years, have taken out their mortgage lending or insurances with the banks, and now they are being threatened with termination if they are not willing to pay negative interest, says Holzhäuser. “From my point of view, this is a clumsy business practice.” People feel compelled and pressured. Many older people are overwhelmed – especially those who are not so fit online. Since the beginning of the year, more than 170 banks and savings banks in Germany have introduced negative interest rates. This is the result of a study on the www.biallo.de Internet portal. Every third bank only grants an allowance of 25,000 euros. The consumer portal Verivox also regularly researches and publishes the product overviews and price lists of around 1,300 credit institutions that are accessible online. As a result, more than 345 banks have now introduced negative interest rates for private customers. 19 banks charge fees for the call money account, which is usually free of charge. This also creates a de facto negative interest rate. In addition, there are the banks that do not publish any information, according to Verivox. Most recently, Postbank announced that it would lower the exemption limits for savings deposits on June 21 and one for new customers “Custody fee” from 50,000 euros on the current account and 25,000 euros on the daily allowance account. Contributions above this limit are charged with 0.5 percent. So far, the tax exemption has been 100,000 euros.

Banks point their fingers at the ECB

As a reason for that “Custody fee” the financial institutions repeatedly claim that they themselves pay negative interest rates to the European Central Bank (ECB). In 2014 it began to charge penalty interest on money that the commercial banks park in their central bank accounts. However, the banks are now granted exemptions. Critics therefore complain that the financial houses are doing business with negative interest rates.

This practice will not change in the foreseeable future, fears consumer advocate Holzhäuser. “If one bank does it, the others follow suit. If the pace continues, one no longer looks to see which bank has no negative interest, but from which tax exemption”, so wooden houses. David Bode from the legal enforcement team of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations knows whether the introduction of negative interest is generally permissible. The association has filed suits at different courts in several federal states. It concerns both current and overnight money accounts. How long the litigation will take is difficult to estimate, according to Bode. There could possibly be first judgments in the current calendar year. In the end, the Federal Court of Justice may have to decide.

Consumers in a bind

A basic distinction should be made between existing and new customers. The latter advises the financial expert Holzhäuser to look at the small print before signing the contract. In the meantime, it is noted in the general terms and conditions whether negative interest is charged above a certain amount.

This is different with existing customers, where changes require an individual agreement. In the past year, the banks would have allowed existing customers to talk to them. In the meantime, the banks are going to terminate their business relationships. “That has another dimension”, so the consumer advocate. “As a customer, I then have to decide whether to sign or not.” In the meantime, however, she advises signing more and more often, according to Holzhäuser. “If people want to stay with the bank, they have to bite the bullet and watch the further case law.” If you don’t want to sign, you shouldn’t wait for the bank to give notice of termination, advises the consumer advocate. “We cannot yet assess how such a termination will affect Schufa, for example.” Alternatively, consumers could look for a new bank. As a rule, you have some time because the bank contacts its customers one to two months in advance.

Shift money, check investments

Many banks charged negative interest for amounts in excess of 100,000 euros. This corresponds to the amount of the deposit protection; that is, the amount for which the bank guarantees in the event of a total failure. If you have more in your account, you should distribute your money between several accounts at different institutions, according to the advice of the financial expert.

After all, everyone should check why they have so much money in their account at all, according to the consumer advocate. The following also applies: do not accept every offer without review. “In case of doubt, it is better to go with negative interest than to invest the money headlong.” A unit-linked annuity insurance with a term of twelve years is not an adequate offer for people over 70, according to Holzhäuser. You can also deposit the money in a locker or safe at any time. Just leaving it at home is the worst option because of the risk of theft, according to the financial expert

Digital consumer protection Vulnerabilities in health apps

As of: 16.06.2021 1:53 p.m.

In the corona pandemic, health apps have gained many users. For some, however, there is a lack of data protection. This was the result of a study by the Federal Office for Information Security. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) found numerous security gaps in an investigation of health apps. According to a BSI report, six out of seven thoroughly tested apps transmitted passwords in clear text to authentication services. None of the apps fully met the security requirements of the BSI guidelines for health apps. The BSI did not provide the names of the apps examined.

Exclusive 03/10/2021

Personal data is not adequately protected

“From the point of view of technical IT security, this result must at least be rated as critical, especially in view of the fact that a significant proportion of the apps process sensitive and particularly sensitive data”, criticized the office for taking care of the data security of the federal government. “Because, according to the findings of the study, this does not adequately protect user data against attacks.” The BSI checked the health apps as part of the first report on digital consumer protection 2020, which, due to the corona pandemic, focused on digital health offers.

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damage “first of all manageable”

The BSI expert Nicolas Stöcker described the danger for users of the criticized apps when exploiting the identified loopholes as “first of all manageable”. If an attack took place, it would initially only affect a single person. “It would be worse if the backend, where the data is kept, were also insecure.” The authority has a corresponding further investigation for the future “on the screen”, says Stocker. However, BSI President Arne Schönbohm warned that the deficiencies found were also dangerous: “Every gap that is there, every weak point that is there has somehow been exploited at some point.” They are currently working with the app providers to close the gaps. “If we see that this is not fixed, then we reserve the right to issue a corresponding product warning”said Schönbohm.

“Investor Net” Jordan

On June 6th, on the black cat complaint, a large number of complaints against Yonghui Supermarket (601933.SH) online shopping platform Yonghui Life APP suddenly emerged, referring to the launch of Yonghui Life APP on June 5 The live broadcast activity of 10,000 people who purchase wine for 999 yuan and get 1499 yuan to purchase Feitian Moutai is suspected of “false propaganda” and “deceptive consumers”, and induce consumption through “false” Moutai purchase qualifications. According to the rough statistics of “Investor Net”, more than 240 people have complained about the live broadcast event. If the minimum consumption is 999 yuan, the amount involved in this part of the consumption is more than 240,000 yuan. This is the second time that Yonghui Supermarket has been criticized by consumers for Moutai related issues this year. In addition, Yonghui Supermarket has also frequently reported food quality problems recently, which has once again triggered a crisis of consumer trust.

The investors in Yonghui Supermarket were also stinged. As of the close on June 11, 2021, Yonghui Supermarket closed at 5.32 yuan per share, and its market value has fallen by more than 20 billion yuan from its highest point since the beginning of this year. In fact, including chairman Zhang Xuansong, Yonghui Supermarket has actively implemented practical actions such as increase in holdings and repurchase to maintain the stock price this year, but it does not seem to bring confidence to the market. “In the embarrassing situation, many investors rushed into the market to increase their shareholding and repurchase, but they were deeply involved. Under this circumstance, investors on the interactive platform began to question Zhang Xuansong’s “left and right hand” behavior. Although Zhang Xuansong increased his holdings of 150 million shares through concerted actions recently, after several operations, he finally held The number of shares of some has decreased by 340 million shares from before the announcement of the increase in holdings.

Consumers accused of “flicking” with Moutai

The above live event was hosted by Yongyuehui Winery, which specializes in high-end liquors under Yonghui Supermarket, and was carried out on the Yonghui Life APP, starting at 18:00 on June 5th. The rule of the event is to purchase 999 yuan of drinks during the live broadcast, and the top 10,000 will be eligible to purchase a 500ml bottle of Feitian Moutai 53 degrees for 1499 yuan. ,

Screenshot of Yonghui Life APP live broadcast

However, according to Black Cat’s complaint, many consumers believe that they have met the conditions, but Yonghui Life APP refused to redeem Moutai coupons.

The user with the ID name “xlli2012” stated in the black cat complaint that he paid at 18:04 and completed an order of 1096 yuan, and the anchor also claimed that there were 2000 people remaining at around 18:06, and Emphasize that consumers who pay before 18:05 are eligible for Moutai coupons. However, until the end of the live broadcast, xlli2012 did not receive Moutai coupons. It asked the customer service. The other party said that due to the hot buying, there was a serious system delay in the payment of the order at the beginning of the event, resulting in delays in the actual ranking broadcast. The display shall prevail, and the coupon will not be renewed if it is not obtained, and the originally purchased drinks are not allowed to be returned. Regarding the situation encountered by itself, xlli201 stated in the complaint that the Yonghui Life APP “deceived customers and made false sales.”

User complaints about live events on Yonghui Life APP. Picture source: Black Cat Complaints

The experience of other complainants is similar to that of xlli2012. They all stated that the payment was completed before the anchor claimed that there were 2,000 places left, but without exception, they did not receive Moutai coupons. The consumer with the ID name “秦Qin岭Lin” said that he successfully paid at 18:04:50 but was not eligible to buy Moutai, while those who paid at 18:08 and paid at 18:11 both purchased For Moutai qualifications, “Qin Qin Ling Lin” was very puzzled about this and asked Yonghui Life APP to “disclose the top 10,000 information and fulfill its promise!”

User complaints about live events on Yonghui Life APP. Picture source: Black Cat Complaints

The rules of the above live broadcast show that the first 10,000 users are satisfied with the “payment completion time”. Why is Qin Ling Lin who paid at 18:04 is not in the top 10,000, but at 18:08 and Are consumers who paid at 18:11 in the top 10,000? In this regard, “Investor Net” tried to contact Yonghui Supermarket to find out the situation, but the other party did not reply.

In response to the above situation, Ding Mengdan, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke (Hangzhou) Law Firm and a special researcher of the E-commerce Research Center of Net Economics, told Investor.com, “Yonghui Life APP provides purchase qualifications to consumers who meet the shopping conditions of 999 yuan. , In order to achieve a competitive advantage by selling goods and gaining traffic, it is a rewarded sales behavior. And Yonghui Life APP should clearly announce the participation conditions, participation methods, qualification redemption time, redemption methods and other information before the reward sales. Before the live broadcast event In the process, Yonghui shall also publicize these contents in a timely manner to ensure the timeliness, effectiveness and accuracy of the live broadcast.”

In addition, if the live broadcast personnel are inconsistent with the real order data and subscription qualification exchange in the background during the oral broadcast process, they should promptly adopt other methods to publicize the list of users who have redeemed qualifications. However, if Yonghui false propaganda, fictitious qualifications and exchange quantity, time, etc., it may be suspected of false propaganda, and its behavior is regulated by the “Anti-Unfair Competition Law” and “Interim Regulations on Regulating Promotional Behavior”. Ding Mengdan added to “Investor Net.”

According to Black Cat’s complaint, the appeals of the 240 consumers mentioned above have been responded to by Yonghui Supermarket. The content of the response has not been made public, and the progress of the complaint of a small number of people has been completed. Although Yonghui Supermarket quickly responded to the demands of these consumers on the Black Cat complaint, it triggered a crisis of trust among some consumers. This is not the first time that Moutai was overturned in Yonghui Supermarket. In March of this year, Beijing Commercial Daily reported that many consumers placed an order on the Yonghui Life APP to buy 53-degree Flying Moutai, but they were told that they could not pick up the goods at the time of delivery. No refunds, questioned Yonghui Supermarket’s “use of Maotai powder”.

Frequent quality problems have seen a significant decline in market value

At the same time, Yonghui Supermarket has been repeatedly named by the supervision and management for food quality problems this year.

On June 1, the Shaanxi Provincial Market Supervision Administration issued a notice on the unqualified 9 batches of food on its official WeChat account. The notice stated that 441 batches of samples of 11 categories of food were inspected for food safety supervision. 9 batches of samples of 5 categories were unqualified, and illegal use of prohibited substances, excessive veterinary drug residue limits, and illegal use of prohibited veterinary drugs were detected, and the quality was not up to standard. The problem of excessive use of food additives. The food sold by the two branches of Shaanxi Yonghui Supermarket Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shaanxi Yonghui”) has been on the “black list.” Among them, one batch of sulfonamides (total) and trimethoprim sold by Guangshun free-range black-bone chicken sold by Shaanxi Yonghui Xi’an West Chang’an Street Branch did not meet the national food safety standards; Shaanxi Yonghui Hanzhong Xixin Street Branch The sold ice wing root (food category: chicken), a batch of volatile basic nitrogen does not meet the requirements of national food safety standards.

Since the beginning of this year, Shaanxi Yonghui has been named by the regulatory authorities many times. Searching on the WeChat official account of the Shaanxi Provincial Market Supervision Administration with “Yonghui” as the key word, you can find that in addition to the June announcement, it was reported on February and April this year. The food non-conformity notices in January and May are on the list. According to the company’s inquiry, Shaanxi Yonghui is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yonghui Supermarket.

Image source: WeChat public account of Shaanxi Provincial Market Supervision Administration

In addition, according to People’s Daily Online, in the first quarter of this year, Yonghui Supermarket had 15 batches of unqualified foods in Fuzhou, Putian, Longyan and other locations in Fujian. The number of unqualified product inspections reached 8 times, and the unqualified items of the random inspections involved ofloxacin, enrofloxacin, cadmium, etc.

Yonghui Supermarket, which is plagued by negative news, also suffered a sharp setback this year. In the first quarter of this year, Yonghui Supermarket’s revenue was 26.3 billion yuan, down 9% year-on-year; net profit was 23.32 million yuan, down 98% year-on-year. The stock price has also begun to drop, and the market value has been shrinking. In order to maintain the stock price and increase investor confidence, Yonghui Supermarket announced on November 4, 2020 that it will repurchase at a price of no more than 2.7 billion yuan in a bidding transaction. The company shares 150 million-300 million shares. Affected by the positive repurchase, Yonghui Supermarket’s share price rose 4.13% the next day to close at 8.12 yuan per share. The announcement of the company’s chairman Zhang Xuansong’s shareholding increase was issued on February 2, 2021. He plans to increase his holdings of the company’s shares by 75 million to 150 million shares within the next six months, at a price not exceeding 9 yuan. On the day of the announcement, the company’s stock price rose 5.97% to close at 7.28 yuan per share. However, it can be seen from the longer-term stock price trend that the company’s repurchase plan did not bring about a continuous rise in the stock price, but showed a general downward trend.

Yonghui Supermarket’s repurchase plan was announced on May 22, 2021. The company spent a total of 2.69 billion yuan to repurchase 390 million shares. Zhang Xuansong’s shareholding increase plan was announced on June 3 and completed. People acting in concert increased their holdings of 150 million shares of the company through bidding transactions. At this time, Zhang Xuansong and people acting in concert held a total of 1.557 billion shares of Yonghui Supermarket, accounting for the total. 16.3% of share capital. As of June 3, the company’s repurchase and shareholding plan came to an end. At this time, the stock price had fallen from a high of 8.12 yuan before the repurchase to 5.58 yuan. As of the close on June 11, the company’s stock price closed at 5.32 yuan per share.

The stock price continues to decline, and many investors questioned the company’s chairman Zhang Xuansong’s behavior of “hands on each other” and “selling high and buying low” on the interactive platform. The question stems from the company’s announcement on the completion of an internal equity transfer plan announced on June 3rd. Due to family asset planning needs, Zhang Xuansong has internally transferred the 350 million shares he owns to persons acting in concert through a block transaction. , Namely Xishirun Herun private equity fund product. According to the company’s inquiry, the investor of Xishirun’s private equity fund products is Shanghai Xishirun Investment Management Co., Ltd., and the majority shareholder Han Chun, who holds 80% of the company’s shares, is also associated with a company called “Beijing Sequoia Yade Equity Investment Center (Limited) Partnership)” company (hereinafter referred to as “Beijing Sequoia Yade”), and Zhang Xuansong holds 1% of the shares of Beijing Sequoia Yade.

After the above-mentioned equity changes, the total shareholding ratio and number of Zhang Xuansong and the concerted person Xishirun Herun private equity fund products have not changed, while Zhang Xuansong’s own shareholding has dropped from 1.407 billion shares to 1.061 billion shares. It also dropped from 14.79% to 11.16%. In addition to the 150 million shares previously increased, Xishirun Herun Private Equity Fund products currently hold a total of 490 million shares of Yonghui Supermarket, accounting for 5.2%.

It is worth noting that according to the announcement made by Yonghui Supermarket on June 8, Zhang Xuansong intends to continue to increase his holdings of the company’s shares by 150 million yuan to 300 million yuan in the next six months. On June 9, Yonghui Supermarket closed up 0.33. %, it closed down 0.74% on June 10. Regarding whether the shareholding increase plan in the next 6 months will continue to be implemented by Xi Shirun Herun private equity fund products, which are acting in concert? “Investor Net” sent a letter to Yonghui Supermarket for verification, but no response was received. (Produced by Thinking Finance)■

JD Cloud released 618 ten major technology application trends for the first time

On June 15, Dr. Mei Tao, Vice President of JD Group and IEEE & IAPR Fellow, released the top ten technology application trends of JD Cloud 618, covering C2M reverse customization and intelligent customer service that understand users better; and multi-modal content generation of products. Anti-counterfeiting traceability with blockchain; intelligent supply chain decision-making, integrated supply chain and virtual digital people that understand more scenarios; and stronger infrastructure guarantees, namely, a privacy computing platform that supports ultra-large-scale data integration, and cloud-based hybrid digital Infrastructure and liquid-cooled data centers.

Ponton: In fact, the large-scale implementation of the ten major technology application trends on JD 618 is inseparable from the guarantee and escort of JD Cloud. It is foreseeable that JD 618, under the ten major technology application trends, will form the same frequency resonance on the consumer side and the industry side. The integration and development of the physical industry and the digital and intelligent society supply chain will not only bring consumers a new shopping experience. Experience can also bring efficiency growth far beyond expectations to brand merchants and others.

IFLYTEK: iFLYTEK’s current open platform is mainly related to digital advertising business

HKUST Xunfei stated on the investor interaction platform that Xunfei’s open platform provides core AI capabilities to the entire industry, focusing on the strategy of free + support, basic capabilities are free, and charges for personalized customized services that other companies cannot do. At present, the relevant income is mainly digital advertising business.

Howie: Because it is similar to BAT’s existing business, it is difficult for Xunfei to sell open platforms based on voice technology as PaaS and SaaS. Of course, this is also related to Xunfei’s headquarters in Hefei. Coincidentally, the advertising business as the main source of income at this stage is quite a bit of Tencent’s return to the to B business when it turns to the industrial Internet, or it implies that the way out is self-evident.

Netflix series with Spotify as the background will be launched in 2022

Video streaming platform Netflix announced that it will shoot a series based on the stories of audio streaming platform Spotify and its two founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon… The plot revolves around how a small Swedish company from Sweden became a global leader This series is expected to go online in 2022.

cheese: This kind of pseudo-documentary of Internet entrepreneurship, in the present when the contradictions of various companies are less and less on the table, may not be able to surpass “Social Network”, of course, this is also related to the dramatic experience of the founder. But what is interesting is that, as the leader of video streaming media, Netflix invests in filming the entrepreneurial history of the leader of audio streaming media, which is quite sympathetic.

Sun Shu, CEO of Didi Car-hailing: Trial morning rush carpooling in some cities with zero commission

#sound#

Sun Shu, CEO of Didi car-hailing, issued an open letter in response to the problem of Didi carpooling, and announced the pricing rules in the carpool scenario. Sun Shu also said that starting from June 14th, Didi will try out the “Morning Peak Zero Commission” plan from 7 am to 10 am on working days in cities such as Taiyuan, Nanjing, Yantai, and Shaoxing, and it will gradually cover the whole country.

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Prices rise by five percent Highest US inflation since 2008

Status: 10.06.2021 5:44 p.m.

In the USA, consumer prices have risen as sharply as they did almost 13 years ago – which is felt above all by car buyers. The European Central Bank also expects higher inflation in the euro countries. Is it just a short-term phenomenon or is inflation now making its big comeback? In the USA there is a growing fear of ever higher prices. Some are already pulling Parallels to the 1970s when President Jimmy Carter failed to get a grip on high inflation and job misery. Although the USA is still a long way from the double-digit inflation rates of that time, the price jumps are getting bigger from month to month. After inflation had risen above four percent in April, it has now climbed to 5.0 percent in May. That is the highest rate since August 2008. Experts had only expected an increase in the cost of living of 4.7 percent. “The dreaded five has become a reality,” said market observer Thomas Altmann from investment management company QC Partners.

Federal Reserve under pressure

The strong growth impressively proves that the price surge in April was not a slip-up, said LBBW analyst Dirk Chlench. “The US Federal Reserve is coming under increasing pressure to reconsider its view that the recent price hikes are only of a temporary nature.” As in April, the prices for used cars turned out to be the biggest inflation driver. They rose again strongly – and, according to the US Department of Labor, accounted for around a third of the monthly price increase.

Core inflation at its highest level since 1992

Particularly alarming is core inflation, which excludes volatile components such as energy and food. It climbed 3.8 percent in May. The last time there was such a sharp increase was in 1992. In April, the core inflation rate was 3.0 percent. The end of the corona lockdowns and the trillion dollar cash injections by the US government have been driving inflation in the US for months. Prominent economists like Larry Summers, Olivier Blanchard and Mohamed El-Erian warn against underestimating the danger. According to Blanchard, the high government spending under US President Joe Biden could overheat the economy.

Just a passing trend?

Most economists are still looking at the trend with serenity, however. In their opinion, the development is mainly based on temporary factors. The US service sector is back in normal mode in many places. Prices for air travel and hotel accommodation are picking up again and are well above the previous year’s level, says chief economist Thomas Gitzel from VP Bank. “So there are so-called base effects at work once more.” At the same time, the shortage of semiconductors is now at least indirectly affecting consumer prices. If there are no new cars due to a lack of semiconductors, customers switched to used cars. These would have become significantly more expensive. Gitzel predicts that the price level will slowly drop from a high level in the summer months. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) claims that inflation will only pick up temporarily. Because compared to the previous year, the economic downturn in the Corona year 2020 resulted in high rates of price increase. That is why the central bank has not yet seen itself under pressure.

Little movement on Wall Street

Wall Street barely reacted to the renewed surge in inflation. The Dow Jones rose by 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 even jumped to a record high. The US dollar gained against the euro. So investors do not anticipate a tightening of monetary policy in the US for the time being. In the eurozone, too, the money locks are still strongly open. The European Central Bank (ECB) is sticking to its trillion-dollar anti-corona crisis program (PEPP) and plans to expand bond purchases in the next quarter compared to the first three months of the year. In doing so, the central bank wants to avoid tightening the financing conditions for companies, states and private households.

ECB raises inflation forecast

The rising inflation hardly worries the euro watchdogs . The higher euro will dampen inflation, said ECB President Christine Lagarde. Nonetheless, the ECB raised its inflation forecast. According to the central bank, inflation should be 1.9 percent in 2021. In March, the ECB was still assuming an increase of 1.5 percent. For 2022, the monetary authorities expect an annual price increase of 1.5 percent and for the following year unchanged at 1.4 percent. According to the ECB, inflation that is too high can lead to a price spiral. Higher prices mean consumers get less goods for their money. So they demand higher wages in order to be able to maintain their standard of living. In turn, in order to pay the higher wages, companies continue to raise the prices of their products. On the other hand, permanently low prices are seen as a risk for the economy: companies and consumers could then postpone investments – in the hope that it will soon become even cheaper. In the medium term, the ECB is aiming for an annual inflation rate of just under two percent. In Germany, the inflation rate is already above this level. In May the Consumer prices compared to the same month last year by 2.5 percent , the highest value since September 2011.

Company location Less bankruptcies instead of bankruptcies

Status: 10.06.2021 11:38 a.m.

The number of companies filing for bankruptcy in Germany fell in the first few months of the year. Other numbers also indicate no bankruptcy wave so far. But there were significantly more consumer bankruptcies. In the current year, the wave of bankruptcies feared as a result of the corona crisis has not materialized in Germany so far. From January to March, 3762 companies filed for bankruptcy, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. That meant a decrease of 19.7 percent compared to the first quarter of the previous year. “The economic hardship of many companies due to the Corona crisis was therefore not yet reflected in an increase in the number of reported corporate insolvencies,” explained the statisticians. The number of regular insolvency proceedings opened gives indications of further developments. In May, this was seven percent below the value of the previous month. In April there was even a decline of 17 percent after significant growth rates had been registered in February and March.

Effect of the Corona exception rules

One reason for the low number of company bankruptcies in the current year is the obligation to file for insolvency, which was temporarily suspended during the Corona crisis, for insolvent and over-indebted companies. Insolvent companies have had to file for bankruptcy again since October 2020. This obligation was suspended until the end of December for over-indebted companies. For companies that have been waiting for the payment of the government aid that has been planned since November, the obligation to apply for insolvency proceedings since May 1, 2021 applies again in full in the event of an imbalance. On average, the companies affected by insolvency in the first quarter were larger than in the same period of the previous year. At 17.1 billion euros, the expected claims of the creditors were well above the figure for the same period in the previous year of 7.3 billion euros.

Consumer bankruptcies have risen sharply

The number of consumer bankruptcies developed differently than with companies. This rose in the first quarter by more than half compared to the same period of the previous year to 22,686. “The sharp increase is related to a law to gradually shorten residual debt discharge procedures from six to three years,” explained the Federal Statistical Office. The new regulation enables those affected to make a quicker economic fresh start after insolvency proceedings. “It can therefore be assumed that many over-indebted private individuals initially withheld their application for bankruptcy in order to benefit from the new regulation,” it said.

The percentage of women buying electronic and electronic products online is increasing. Men are still considered the main buyers of electronics and electronics, but these attitudes and trends in consumer behavior have somewhat changed in Vietnam according to a comparative analysis of more than 1 million. views in the first 3 months of 2020 and 2021 electronic and electronic goods according to the product search engine and iPrice price comparison. THE RATE OF WOMEN BUYING ELECTRONICS, ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS INCREASES According to iPrice’s survey, the percentage of women who buy electronic and electronic products online is equal to that of men. If in the first quarter of 2020, the percentage of women shopping for these items was 38%, in the first quarter of 2021, the percentage of women shopping on e-commerce sites in the industry was 43%, an increase of 5. % compared with the same period last year. Although men are still the main shoppers in the portfolio when accounting for 57%, this figure has decreased compared to the same period last year (62%). The report also shows that there is a change in the shopping age group of women. Although there was no sudden growth, however, women in general and women between the ages of 35 and 64 in particular paid certain attention to electronics and electronics in the wake of the Covid epidemic- 19 seems to be cooling off. They also began to approach more electronics and electronics purchases on e-commerce platforms. Specifically, in the first three months of this year, the percentage of women aged 35-44 and 45-54 who purchased items in this category increased by 4% compared to Q1 / 2020. In addition, the older age group from 55 to 64 also had a slight increase of 2%. Percentage of online purchases of electronic products between men and women Meanwhile, the group of younger female consumers aged 25-34 has a sharp decrease of 10% compared to the first three months of 2020. Research experts say that this change may be due to the impact of the pandemic. Covid-19 in early 2020, when most people prioritize social separation and work from home. Therefore, the proportion of consumers in general and office women in this age group in particular tend to purchase electronic and electronic products to serve the needs of working and daily living at home. . The trend of changing shopping behaviors of Vietnamese consumers has also been partly shown in the e-commerce report just announced when there are two names specializing in electronic and electronic products business. Mobile and Dien may Xanh are in the top 10 high-traffic websites in Southeast Asia. This shows that the electronics and electronics market in Vietnam has been receiving a lot of attention from consumers on e-commerce websites. SHOPPING AND PAY MORE ON Mobile The survey also showed that shopping on mobile devices grew 4%. Consumers are more likely to purchase electronic and electronic products on mobile devices than on computers and tablets. Up to 80% of consumers decided to shop on mobile devices in Q1 / 2021, compared with 18% and 2% for computers and tablets. These rates in the first quarter of 2020 are 76% on mobile, 22% on desktop, and 2% on tablet. According to data from the Digital 2021 report of We Are Social, up to 61.4% of users decide to pay online via mobile devices. Thus, “mobile first” (mobile first) will still be one of the trends that will continue to take place in the “new normal” period for enterprises trading in electronic and electronic products. Trends of users are increasingly performing more tasks such as finding out, shopping, and paying on their mobile phones. Specifically, there are more than 154 million mobile subscribers, of which 64% of accounts are connected to 3G, 4G and 5G networks. Internet traffic from Android devices continues to lead with 64.6%, higher than the same period last year 2020 (61%), iOS decreased from 37% to 34.5%. According to We Are Social’s Digital Vietnam 2021 report, mobile application groups that are used a lot by Vietnamese users in 2020 include: messaging, chat (94.7%), entertainment and video viewing (83 , 4%), listening to music (58%), playing games (57.2%), shopping (68.5%), finance and banking (40.1%) … In general, these numbers are not too different from those of the same period in 2020. Only shopping apps recorded a higher usage rate, up from 55% (2020) to 68.5%. (2021). The report emphasizes that Vietnamese users are increasingly prioritizing purchases on mobile apps. Regarding shopping, except for travel, travel and accommodation services, down 40.5%, the groups of fashion, digital equipment, food, personal care, games, online music all there are signs of a sharp increase in spending. On average, user spending on these industries increased by over 30%.

On April 15, the Consumer Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the “Notice on Consumer Complaints in the Fourth Quarter of 2020” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”), which notified the banking industry that the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and its dispatched agencies received and transferred. Consumer complaints.

The “Notice” pointed out that in the fourth quarter of 2020, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and its dispatched offices received and forwarded 76,224 consumer complaints from the banking industry, a decrease of 10.4% from the previous quarter.

Among them, there were 25,873 cases involving large state-owned commercial banks, a decrease of 5.2% from the previous month, accounting for 33.9% of the total number of complaints; 31,849 cases of joint-stock commercial banks, a decrease of 15.0% from the previous month, accounting for 41.8% of the total number of complaints.

The “Notice” stated that the median number of complaints from large state-owned commercial banks was 4376. The number of complaints from China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ranks among the top two large state-owned commercial banks.

The median number of complaints from joint-stock commercial banks was 2,959. China Merchants Bank, Ping An Bank, and China CITIC Bank ranked the top three joint-stock commercial banks in terms of complaints.

In terms of the number of complaints, the Bank of Communications ranked first in the number of large state-owned commercial banks in terms of complaints per 1,000 business outlets, and the Bank of Communications ranked first in the number of large state-owned commercial banks in terms of complaints per tens of millions of individual customers. Ping An Bank ranks first in the number of joint-stock commercial banks in terms of complaints per 1,000 business outlets, and Hua Xia Bank, Industrial Bank, and Ping An Bank ranks among the top three joint-stock commercial banks in terms of complaints per tens of millions of individual customers.

In addition, in the fourth quarter of 2020, there were 44,621 complaints involving credit card business, a decrease of 7.8% from the previous quarter, accounting for 58.5% of the total number of complaints.

Among the complaints involving large state-owned commercial banks, there were 15,043 complaints about credit card business, a month-on-month increase of 2.8%, accounting for 58.1% of the total complaints of large state-owned commercial banks; among the complaints involving joint-stock commercial banks, there were 26,800 credit card business complaints, a decrease from the previous month. 13.2%, accounting for 84.1% of the total number of complaints from joint-stock commercial banks.

The number of credit card business complaints from China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications ranks among the top two large state-owned commercial banks. China Merchants Bank, China CITIC Bank, and Ping An Bank ranked the top three joint-stock commercial banks in terms of credit card business complaints.

There were 18,102 complaints involving personal loan business, a decrease of 10.5% from the previous month, accounting for 23.7% of the total number of complaints. The personal loan business complaints of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China rank among the top two large state-owned commercial banks. Ping An Bank ranked first in the number of joint-stock commercial banks in terms of complaints regarding personal loan business.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, there were 3338 complaints involving wealth management businesses, a decrease of 23.0% from the previous quarter, accounting for 4.4% of the total number of complaints. Postal Savings Bank of China ranked first in the number of large state-owned commercial banks in terms of complaints concerning wealth management services. Ping An Bank, China Merchants Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank ranked the top three joint-stock commercial banks in terms of complaints about wealth management services.

In January this year, Chenghua District Bureau of Chengdu Public Security Bureau uncovered a new type of telecom network fraud under the guise of “members rate reservations for hotels nationwide.”

According to Xinhua News Agency, at the end of December 2020, Mr. Lu, a Chengdu citizen, booked a four-night room in a hotel in Shanghai through a seller who provided hotel reservation services on the Xianyu platform. The seller stated that the original price for the four nights was 5,000 yuan. It only costs 3300 yuan to book through him. After taking the photo, Mr. Lu provided the occupant’s information to the other party and contacted the hotel for verification. After confirming that it was correct, he clicked to confirm receipt. But when Mr. Lu went to Shanghai to check in, he was informed by the front desk of the hotel that the order had been cancelled. Mr. Lu tried to contact the seller again and found that he was blackmailed by the other party, and then realized that he had been cheated.

According to the “Statistical Report on National Star-rated Hotels in the Fourth Quarter of 2020” issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, there are 9,717 star-rated hotels in the national star-rated hotel statistical management system in the fourth quarter of 2020, including 2,552 four-star hotels. There are 850 five-star hotels, accounting for 26.3% and 8.7% respectively. In addition, the average price of five-star hotels is as high as 523.27 yuan, and the average occupancy rate is 53.96%. Higher prices and vacancy rates have made some crooks smell business opportunities.

Jiemian News combed through the information on Black Cat Complaints, Zhihu, Weibo and other platforms and found that there are currently two main complaints from consumers about the reservation service of Xianyu Hotel. The first is Mr. Lu mentioned in the above report. In that way, the full payment was paid to the seller on Xianyu before the check-in, and the seller deducted the payment by himself and contacted the hotel to cancel the order. As a result, the consumer found that there was no room available when he arrived at the hotel.

Another situation is that consumers did not pay the room fee to the seller of Xianyu, but only paid a certain reservation fee, and the corresponding room fee was paid directly to the hotel upon check-in. Some of these consumers did pay the seller on behalf of the hotel. The booking was successfully checked in, but some orders were recognized as illegal operations by the hotel and could not be checked in.

The experience of a consumer on Weibo falls into this category. The consumer stated in his post that he had purchased the Conrad Hangzhou Hotel at a low price for two nights through the booking service, but he was questioned by the front desk when he checked in. “I followed the instructions provided by the seller to check in, but the hotel front desk said that I had encountered travelers cheating to check in with the same words before, which caused us to be very embarrassed, and finally failed to check in. We tried to find after being rejected by the hotel The seller claimed for the reservation fee, but found that it had been blocked by the seller.” The consumer wrote on Weibo.

So, where do the low-priced houses on the Xianyu platform come from? And why is there such a situation that “some passengers successfully checked in, while others failed to check in”?

“We will have some hotel sales agents on hand to sell us the negotiated price listings.” A seller who provides hotel reservation services on Xianyu revealed to the interface news. “After the buyer has provided the information, we will generally send the buyer a fake electronic version of the corporate name tag, or send the agreement number of the corresponding company to the buyer, so that the buyer will print it and show it to the hotel front desk when checking in. “The seller said so.

It is understood that the negotiated price means that some hotel sales agents specially sign an agreement with a large company or individual to agree that when the company’s guests or employees stay in the hotel, they can enjoy a preferential price. In this way, the hotel guarantees a certain occupancy rate and keeps the vacancy rate within a reasonable limit. It is generally lower than the listed price of the hotel. Some big companies such as Alibaba, JPMorgan Chase, IBM, etc. will sign an agreement with five-star hotels.

Take the Ritz-Carlton Nanjing as an example. During the period of 4.12-4.13, the price for ordinary travelers to stay in the hotel’s deluxe room is 1430 yuan, while the price for the same room type using Alibaba’s negotiated price is 1287 yuan. This one night produced a price difference of nearly 150 yuan.

The price difference of superior room types is even more disparity. Also on this night, the price for ordinary travelers to stay in a premium suite was 3480 yuan, while Alibaba’s negotiated price was only 3001 yuan, and the difference was nearly 500 yuan. This is not difficult to explain why most sellers on Xianyu provide reservation services only for top-level rooms such as executive suites or prestigious suites, and the resulting profit difference can be seen.

However, tourists staying in hotels through fraudulent use of negotiated prices are essentially an encroachment on the interests of the hotel. Xia Zifan, chief consultant of Lausanne Hotel Agency, said that the current hotel’s negotiated price leakage exists. If consumers book at the negotiated price, they must report the agreement number to the front desk when they check in. This is a common practice in hotels. However, it is inevitable that some unprofessional front desk staff did not identify well. This is also the reason that “some passengers will check in successfully, and some are told not to check in” mentioned above.

“This is actually a’risky activity’. Once the fraudulent agreement price is discovered by the front desk, you will definitely not be able to check in, and personal credibility will be affected. When I sell, I will inform the buyer that there is a risk of not being able to check in successfully, but As far as I know, other people rarely do this.” The above-mentioned idle fish seller told the interface reporter.

Xia Zifan also told Jiemian News: “It is still recommended that consumers book hotels through formal channels to avoid being unable to check in at that time.”

It is worth noting that the lack of qualification review of sellers on Xianyu platform and the inefficiency of handling user complaints have also caused dissatisfaction among some consumers.

A user posted on the Black Cat Complaint Platform that she saw a low-cost hotel booking on Xianyu platform called “Xia Chao’s Weightlifting Doll” on February 21, and she subsequently ordered it from the seller Orders. After contacting the hotel to confirm the information, she clicked to receive the goods, but then the hotel contacted her to pay again at the front desk. The user immediately filed a complaint to Xianyu’s official after realizing that she was deceived, but she found that the seller’s goods were still listed on the platform the day after she complained. “Xianyu platform has been allowing him to deceive without taking any measures.” The consumer wrote in the post.

Jiemian News tried to contact Xianyu regarding this incident, but has not received a response as of press time.

(Reporter Zheng Cuiying also contributed to this article.)