China’s financial credit database of 1 billion people, 28 million companies gets an upgrade

Latest version of system which lenders use to assess creditworthiness, provides more comprehensive profiles of firms, individuals, People’s bank of China says

Improvements part of Beijing’s broader plan to create a ‘credit society’ this year

Reading Time:2 minutes

China’s central bank has upgraded the system lenders use to assess firms’ and individuals’ creditworthiness. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:30pm, 19 Jan 2020Updated: 3:17pm, 17 Feb 2020

China’s central bank has launched an updated version of its credit information system covering 1 billion individuals and more than 28 million corporate clients, which it says will provide more accurate profiles of loan applicants.

The upgraded system – which is used by the nation’s lenders to evaluate potential clients’ creditworthiness – went online on Sunday.

The upgrades include improvements to the information gathering and processing functions, as well as the technical framework and security, according to the credit bureau of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).

The state-run database, which was introduced in 2006, is regarded as a key “national financial infrastructure project” and central to Beijing’s ambitions to create a “credit society” by this year.

It works by collecting information from thousands of institutions that track individuals’ and companies’ credit records.

The new credit reports produced by the system will contain more information than before, including details of a loan applicant’s spouse, financial guarantors, employment status, credit card records and installment plans, the PBOC said.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x