In August 2003, Hong Kong improved the personal data collection of consumer credit information by collecting positive credit data for all unsecured loans from banks and other financial institutions.
In Hong Kong, positive credit data comprises all available and utilised credit lines from each consumer's credit cards and unsecured personal loans.
After this successful introduction, the consumer credit database size grew from two million to more than 21 million records by the end of last year.
During the lead-up to the sharing of this new set of consumer data, there was much anticipation and speculation on whether secured consumer credit data would also be shared, in particular, residential mortgage loan data.
Interestingly, many consumer banking executives commented that 'it would only be a matter of time before mortgage loan information would eventually have to be shared as well'.
Nearly four years later, it appears that very little progress has been made in getting the largest portion of outstanding consumer credit data into the database. Has the market become complacent because of the economic rebound and banks no longer believe the value in supporting a comprehensive consumer credit database for Hong Kong?
By looking more carefully at the statistics, the real story can be revealed. Since 1997, the percentage of outstanding residential mortgages extended to individuals (both private sector and government subsidised housing programmes) in Hong Kong comprises the largest percentage of all consumer loans, about 85 to 90 per cent.