Czech consumer lending firm Home Credit withdrew from a partnership agreement with Prague’s Charles University amidst outrage from students and academics. Home Credit, owned by investment company PPF Group, has been the subject of controversy over its dealings with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The contract between Home Credit and Charles University stipulated that neither party would harm the reputation of the other; students and professors voiced fears that the clause would be employed to censor voices critical of the CCP. The regime granted the firm the first foreign license to provide domestic loans to consumers in China in 2014, and has since retained close links with Beijing. Home Credit lent over $15 billion to Chinese consumers in 2019 alone, according to public records obtained by the New York Times.