Ant Group consumer lending service Huabei fully share credit data with China's c...

Ant Group consumer lending service Huabei fully share credit data with China's central bank as business overhaul continues- PingWest

Ant Group consumer lending service Huabei fully share credit data with China's central bank as business overhaul continues

September 24, 2021 2:56 pm

Consumer credit data generated by Ant Group’s consumer lending service will be fully integrated into a government credit-reporting system overseen by China’s central bank, a part of Chinese regulator’s continuing efforts to rectify the fintech giant.

Detail:

Ant’s consumer lending service Huabei, which means “just spend” in Mandarin, said in a post on its official Twitter-like Weibo account on Wednesday that it was being integrated into a credit reporting system held by the Credit Reference Center of the PBOC (People’s Bank of China).

Huabei users will be asked to authorize sharing of credit information with the PBOC credit reporting system. Those who deny the request won’t be able to use Huabei’s service. Information including date of account setup, credit line amounts and time of purchases and repayment status will be handed over to the central bank’s database on a monthly basis.

Huawei won’t share specific information with regard to users’ transaction data including when and what people purchased.

Huabei and Jiebei, Ant’s other consumer lending business, are the core of Ant Group’s virtual credit card businesses, it has met the need of young, internet-savvy consumers who often found it hard to obtain credit cards from banks. However, these consumer loan data wasn’t fully included into the PBOC’s credit-reporting system until recently, making it difficult for regulators to assess banks’ exposure to potential defaults and individual borrower’s creditworthiness.

The move of PBOC followed news that Ant Group may create a separate mobile app for its lending business, which is currently under consumer credit platforms Huabei and Jiebei, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The total volume of payments made on Alipay reached 118 trillion yuan (US$18.3 trillion) in the 12 months to June last year, about a third of Huabei’s users are aged between 30 and 40, according to Ant Group. 

Context:

Chinese regulators ordered a restructuring of Ant Group after the fintech giant summoned by the regulators in November last year that led to the canceled IPO. Ant Group was asked to turn into a financial holding company overseen by the central bank.

In June, Ant Group was given the green light by Chinese regulator to set up a consumer finance business with name of registration called Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co. The approval signaled Ant’s determination to change how it operates and offer loans to Chinese consumers.

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