Guangdong regulator reprimands 30 banks, financial firms for using their apps for unauthorised data access and collection

Provincial government reprimanded dozens of financial institutions whose mobile applications infringed users’ privacy, according to a statement

Latest effort highlights China’s continued process to contain excessive risks brought on by fintech companies

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A branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:45pm, 14 Jan 2021Updated: 4:45am, 15 Jan 2021

Local authorities in southern China have found fault with hundreds of smartphone applications that infringed the privacy of their customers’ data, underscoring the risks lurking in the world’s largest fintech market.

Banks and financial service providers made up 30 of the 201 apps that were reprimanded by the Guangdong Communications Administration (GCA) for breaches in data privacy, according to a statement.

Offences highlighted by the local authority were unauthorised access to users’ IP addresses, location data, camera and the frequent demand for access to non-essential services even after being rejected by users.

As many as 24 lenders including a unit of Ping An Insurance Group, Guangfa Bank, Bank of Guangzhou and Shunde Rural Commercial Bank failed to disclose the method, purpose and scope of collecting the personal information of users on their apps, according to the statement.

Regulators are struggling to keep up with the thousands of financial technology start-ups that have popped up in less than a decade. Photo: Reuters

Nine service providers including the fourth-largest Chinese company by value – the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) – and Sino Life Insurance.

The reprimands and the instruction by the authority for the app providers to fix their usage breaches underscore the pitfalls in China’s fintech market, where regulators are struggling to keep up with the thousands of technology start-ups that have sprouted in less than a decade.