China Gives Little Credit to Companies Handpicked to Develop Credit-Reporting Sector

By Zhang Yuzhe, Peng Qinqin and Dong Tongjian

The Credit Reference Center, operated by the People's Bank of China, mans a booth at the 2015 China International Finance Exhibition in Shanghai in October 2015. The credit-reporting system was established in 2006, and the central bank opened the business to private companies in 2015. Photo: IC

(Beijing) — China appears to have a long way to go before it can fully achieve its ambition to develop a third-party credit-reporting industry.

That is despite the People’s Bank of China handpicking eight Chinese companies for a pilot project more than two years ago.

“The preparation the eight companies have made for running the personal credit reporting business is far below market demand and regulatory standards,” said Wan Cunzhi, the director of the PBOC’s Credit Information System Bureau, during a conference about credit reporting held in Beijing in April. “It’s fallen short of our expectations that none of them has made it yet.”