This morning, Huabei (Ant Check Later), an Alibaba-backed fintech giant, announced that the previous private consumers’ credit will now be made accessible within China’s central bank credit reporting system, a network of databases that monitors and assesses the reliability of individuals, companies and government bodies. From now on, Huabei will start reporting the borrowers’ information to the central bank, including the account opening date, the line of credit, consumption, and repayment details.
Huabei is a loan service provided by Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Alibaba Group. It is no surprise that the service is now connected to the national credit system, given that the Ant Group is considered a financial institute by the Chinese regulators. It is promised that personal details like purchase history will be protected and that there won’t be a surge in the number of personal credit records.
Wang Pengbo, a senior financial analyst, said that the national credit system is improving, and Huabei is part of it. By sharing the credit information of the borrowers, Huabei helps to reduce the chance of traders exploiting arbitrage opportunities.
On a personal level, overdue loans or defaults on Huabei will impact one’s mortgage or car loans in the future. In addition, Su Xiaorui, a senior analyst warns that, once Huabei’s credit rating system is fully integrated into the national one, the consumers should be aware of one thing – too many loans from online providers might have a negative effect on their applications to commercial banks.
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