Fully Licensed Credit Agencies in China Set to Reach 3 – 5: China Merchants Bank

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The chief economist for one of China’s national joint stock lenders expects regulators to allow the number of fully licensed credit ratings agencies operating in the country to expand to 3 – 5 in total.

Ding Anhua (丁安华), chief economist with China Merchants Bank (CMB), said to state-owned media that Chinese regulators will permit the number of personal credit scoring firms to further expand, amidst broader reforms to make the financial system more market driven.

“Personal credit systems are an important for of financial infrastructure, we should eventually see the formation of a multi-tiered credit ratings market,” said Ding in an interview with state-owned media.

“At present the important work for China’s personal credit scoring system should be advancing the market-based development of fully-licensed credit scoring firms, and the number may expand to 3 to 5.”

At present China is host to only two licensed market-driven credit agencies – Baihang Credit (百行征信) and Pudao Credi (朴道征信).

Ding said that China’s personal credit scoring system will eventually be comprised of four layers consisting of:

  1. The central bank credit system.
  2. Fully licensed market-based credit companies.
  3. Specialised licensed organisations with limited licenses, providing data services and focusing on specific areas such as credit cards, consumer lending and anti-fraud.
  4. Numerous data services companies or risk management service companies, that provide outsourced services to the financial institutions or serve as cooperative parties to the fully licensed credit agencies.

“At present the important work is to first drive the development of the second tier, where the number of agencies could expand to 3 to 5,” said Ding.