Online loans worth 116 billion yuan (16.97 billion U.S. dollars) had been registered by the end of August on a unified platform operated by an industry association in China, amid a nationwide campaign to reduce financial risks.

The volume was up 18 percent from a month ago, the National Internet Finance Association (NIFA) has said.

The platform, established in June 2017, had recorded 94.31 million lending deals submitted by 66 online agents, which involved a total of 3.6 million borrowers.

NIFA wants all intermediary financing agents to register the deals they have brokered on the single platform, to ensure the records of all loans will still be available in case an agent goes bankrupt.

Unified registration will help regulators improve supervision and raise the awareness of P2P lending platforms to properly disclose information, NIFA said, adding that the platform would eventually be available to investors.

Chinese financial regulators have rolled out stricter rules to toughen supervision over P2P lending, as a fast-growing, loosely regulated online financing sector has increased risk and posed a threat to market order.