Foreign borrowers' financial information will be recorded in China's national credit system, and the central bank is studying the feasibility of a cross-border information sharing mechanism to improve services for foreigners and prevent credit risks.
Foreigners wishing to borrow money from financial institutions on the Chinese mainland should register their nationality on personal credit reports, a new requirement of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, in order to better monitor domestic credit market information.
The central bank will notify foreigners before collecting the additional information, she said. Chinese financial institutions need to know about foreign borrowers' previous credit records, including such activities in other countries, and to rate their credit history before issuing loans.
Analysts said the issue is related to cross-border information transferring and sharing. Authorities in different countries are always wary of protecting their citizens' information security.
Li Bin, deputy head of the bureau, said on Monday that the central bank is in touch with financial officials in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to accelerate cooperation on credit information management with Hong Kong and Macao regulators.
An extension of the Bay Area credit regulatory framework is being considered that would cover corporate and individual credit information. "On the following steps, we will ask for financial institution opinions and the building of connections among credit information service institutions in the area," Li told China Daily.
The PBOC released a statement on its website on Monday indicating that more credit information will be included into the system in order to accurately assess credit risks and minimize defaults. The information will cover payment history of utility bills, loans jointly borrowed by more than one person, and guarantee arrangements between individuals and corporations.
Efforts to expand data collection to utility bill payment histories will also help improve the comprehensiveness of data.
The national credit information database was launched in 2006, and is managed by the PBOC. It now covers information of 259.18 million enterprises and 990 million individuals, according to the central bank.
To establish a credit system covering all of society, the central bank has issued a license to Baihang Credit, China's only licensed market-based personal credit agency.
Baihang will focus on rating consumer credit information recorded by non-bank finance providers, such as online peer-to-peer lending platforms.
Foreign borrowers' financial information will be recorded in China's national credit system, and the central bank is studying the feasibility of a cross-border information sharing mechanism to improve services for foreigners and prevent credit risks.
The central bank will notify foreigners before collecting the additional information, she said. Chinese financial institutions need to know about foreign borrowers' previous credit records, including such activities in other countries, and to rate their credit history before issuing loans.
Li Bin, deputy head of the bureau, said on Monday that the central bank is in touch with financial officials in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to accelerate cooperation on credit information management with Hong Kong and Macao regulators.
The PBOC released a statement on its website on Monday indicating that more credit information will be included into the system in order to accurately assess credit risks and minimize defaults. The information will cover payment history of utility bills, loans jointly borrowed by more than one person, and guarantee arrangements between individuals and corporations.
The national credit information database was launched in 2006, and is managed by the PBOC. It now covers information of 259.18 million enterprises and 990 million individuals, according to the central bank.
