Abstract: The Internet finance associations are playing an important role in the supervision of P2P online lending and the self regulation of the industry. This paper employs the difference in difference (DID) method to study the 3298 problematic platforms in 22 major provinces before and after the establishment of provincial Internet finance associations. The results show that the establishment of Internet finance associations in every province can promote the exposure of the problematic p2p platforms, and the promotion of industrial regulation and self-discipline can on the one side eliminate some poor p2p platforms, while on the other side it can reshape the confidence of the investors in the P2P markets. However, there exists a time lag effect in the self-regulation of the Internet finance associations; the longer the time lag, the more significant the impact of the association on the problematic platform will be. Therefore, the industrial standards should be established, the investor education should be strengthened, and the regulatory coordination should be promoted.

Key words: P2P online lending; industry association; industry supervision; industry self-regulation; difference in difference model