Ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing is continuing to diversify its offering – this time with the addition of a suite of financial services products in China.

The new service will offer mutual protection and crowdfunding products for critical illnesses, credit and lending, wealth management, and auto-financing services, among other products. The Chinese transportation platform trialled its in-app financial services offering in 10 cities including Chongqing, Zhengzhou, and Foshan before this rollout to the entire country.

With the nationwide launch, there will be two groups of services available. The first is ‘Didi protection and credit services’, which is aimed at delivering personal financial products for short-term workers within the gig economy. Meanwhile, ‘auto-financing solutions’ will look to create links between Didi’s drivers and vehicle partners and create a supply of electric vehicles through purchasing, leasing, trading, and financing services.

Didi hopes that the introduction of financial services will help it build a stronger network of collaboration, leading to a more efficient transportation offering in 2019.

Didi’s 2018 was mired in controversy after a series of safety incidents, which included the separate murders of two female passengers. These incidents have led authorities to begin clamping down on Uber China owner and the company working on measures to improve safety, including the introduction of in-car audio recording.