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Ant Group microcredit service Huabei feeds vast credit data to China’s central bank
- Consumer credit data gathered by Huabei are now included in the financial credit information database run by the People’s Bank of China
- Sharing Huabei’s data with China’s central bank forms part of Ant Group’s rectification measures, which are based on targets set by financial regulators
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Ant Group, operator of the world’s largest electronic payment platform, has started to feed its vast trove of consumer credit information to a database run by China’s central bank, heralding a new chapter in the regulatory oversight of the nation’s private financial technology companies.
Consumer credit data gathered by Huabei, the small loans service under the Alipay platform, are now included in the financial credit information database of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), according to a statement posted by Ant Group on Chinese microblogging site Weibo on Wednesday. The Hangzhou-based company is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post.
That data sharing arrangement with PBOC forms part of the rectification measures ordered by financial regulators and comes about 10 months after Ant Group’s simultaneous public listings in Shanghai and Hong Kong were called off.
Huabei, which means “just spend it” in Chinese, is handing over information that includes the set-up dates of user accounts, amount and usage of credit line, and status of repayments, according to the statement. The data-sharing arrangement is mandatory under China’s credit investigation industry regulation, which requires Huabei’s corporate vehicle – Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance – to follow the same rules as a traditional bank.
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Information will be submitted to the central bank on a monthly basis, according to Huabei. It said the information fed to PBOC’s database will not show details of personal consumption, such as the time of purchase and the items bought.
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