Complaints Surge, Du Xiaoman Urgently Needs to Appoint Chief Compliance Officer

As the 315 International Consumer Rights Day approaches again, the 2026 CCTV 315 Gala focuses on four core areas: consumer safety, financial compliance, data protection, and more. Financial security has once again become a nationwide concern.

As a licensed fintech platform, Du Xiaoman has recently been mired in complaints, with issues such as illegal lending, aggressive collection, hidden fees, payment penalties, and data leaks occurring one after another. User rights protection remains a high-profile issue.

In an environment where regulatory scrutiny is tightening and compliance has become the lifeline of the financial industry, Du Xiaoman urgently needs to address its compliance shortcomings, fill key management gaps, and quickly establish a “Chief Compliance Officer” to strengthen its compliance foundation and repair user trust.

Frequent Compliance Issues at Du Xiaoman

The core of fintech is risk control and compliance, yet Du Xiaoman’s recent operations run counter to compliance requirements.

Financial commentary sources have noted that through third-party complaint platforms, regulatory fines, and reports by authoritative media, Du Xiaoman faces compliance risks in five key areas: lending, collection, pricing, payments, and information security. Complaints have been rising steadily, making it a major hotspot for customer grievances.

In lending, Du Xiaoman repeatedly crosses regulatory red lines, especially regarding campus loans. The government explicitly bans financial institutions from issuing internet consumer loans to full-time students. Although the platform’s agreements include non-student commitments, they rely solely on user declarations without effective verification mechanisms like academic status checks or identity screening, leading to ongoing illegal lending practices. According to public reports from Shanxi Daily, a graduate student, Xiao Zhu, borrowed over 60,000 yuan from Du Xiaoman during her studies, falling into a debt cycle and even abandoning her further education. Complaints from students on platforms like Black Cat Complaint and 12315 are high, and the platform’s lending to those without repayment ability violates regulatory rules and increases financial risks.

Collection management is another major complaint area, with numerous violations. Third-party collection agencies hired by Du Xiaoman frequently engage in high-frequency calls, abusive threats, unauthorized disclosure of debt information, and impersonation of regulatory authorities to pressure borrowers—behaviors that constitute soft violence. They even harass vulnerable groups like the elderly and pregnant women, severely disrupting users’ lives. A trending topic on social media highlighted a case where a celebrity was mistakenly listed as an emergency contact and faced persistent collection efforts, exposing loopholes in collection compliance. Despite multiple regulatory guidelines, the platform’s oversight of outsourced teams remains inadequate.

Pricing and fee transparency issues also cause widespread user protests. The platform promotes low-interest loans but the actual annualized rates far exceed advertised figures, with some products approaching the legal cap of 24%. Forced bundling of memberships, insurance, and other services, undisclosed charges, non-refundable fees for failed loans, and unreasonable early repayment penalties are common. Fee and interest calculations are often unclear. Data shows that in 2025, over 38,000 complaints related to Du Xiaoman were filed, with more than 40% concerning fees and interest disputes. Low resolution rates further escalate user conflicts.

Licensed payment services also face compliance issues. Du Xiaoman’s payment operations have been fined by the central bank for lacking proper real-name verification, illegal account openings, and lax risk controls, revealing vulnerabilities in payment settlement oversight. Even after personnel adjustments, complaints about unauthorized deductions and merchant violations persist, jeopardizing user funds. Additionally, frequent data security breaches lead to harassment and scam messages, and even unregistered users are targeted with marketing and collection messages. Excessive data collection, inadequate authorization disclosures, and violations of the Personal Information Protection Law have left user privacy unprotected.

The Urgent Need for a Chief Compliance Officer

The root causes of frequent compliance problems are not only weak process controls but also a critical management flaw: although Du Xiaoman has assembled a comprehensive senior management team, it lacks a dedicated “Chief Compliance Officer.” This absence results in compliance work lacking top-level design, coordinated oversight, and decision-making authority, allowing violations to persist.

On Du Xiaoman’s official website, the senior management team includes several key executives: CEO Zhu Guang overseeing overall strategy and operations; CFO Zhu Baifan responsible for finance and capital management; CRO Xu Dongliang leading risk control; Senior Vice President and Chief Product Architect Sun Yunfeng handling product and technology development; CTO Zhang Wenbin in charge of technology. There are also vice presidents overseeing marketing, business, and payments, covering core areas like strategy, finance, risk, product, and tech.

While this appears to be a complete leadership structure, there is a clear compliance shortfall. Currently, compliance functions are likely embedded within risk control, legal, or business departments, lacking an independent, direct-reporting Chief Compliance Officer.

This structure has three major drawbacks: first, limited authority in compliance discussions, making it susceptible to business growth pressures and performance targets, thus risking adherence to compliance standards; second, fragmented compliance management across different lines of business, preventing the formation of a comprehensive, end-to-end compliance system; third, delayed risk warning capabilities, hindering proactive adaptation to regulatory changes and compliance risks, leading to frequent violations and reactive corrections.

For licensed fintech platforms, the role of a Chief Compliance Officer is especially critical. Recent regulatory efforts emphasize establishing clear accountability, requiring financial institutions to set up dedicated compliance leaders responsible for overall compliance management, policy interpretation, risk assessment, and rectification.

In the context of strengthened consumer rights protections, lacking a Chief Compliance Officer means Du Xiaoman lacks a “pilot” to steer compliance efforts, making it difficult to fundamentally resolve complaint issues and compliance risks.

For Du Xiaoman, rather than passively responding to complaints and making ad hoc corrections, it should proactively address governance weaknesses by appointing a Chief Compliance Officer and integrating compliance into all aspects of business. Only by prioritizing compliance, abandoning an overly aggressive growth model, can it operate steadily under strict regulation, regain user trust, and fulfill its original mission of inclusive finance.