It's not, the banks lend their excessive cash to a big tech company, Ant then use that money to make small/short-term loans with "big data" credit ratings to individuals unqualified for low-interest bank loans.

That makes sense. Though it seems like it should be inconsistent with "if the loan defaults, it's the partner bank's problem, not Ant's."

Your underwriting standards are going to be different depending on how much skin in the game you have.

Why would partner banks accept trash loans without doing due diligence? Though thinking about the housing crisis, greedy short-sightedness comes to mind. It's amazing how some of the people who claim to be the smartest with money are actually the dumbest and riskiest. Are they actually smart or just lucky they won a bet?

Governments have a history of bailing out the financial system. Lenders take that into account and will take on riskier loans since they effectively have a put on them.

Adding links to a chain makes it weaker, nor stronger.