Ant Group-backed credit scorer Qiantang closer to licence in China after two-year wait, as PBOC to 'guide' application

Qiantang Credit Rating, backed by Alibaba Group Holding's fintech arm Ant Group and Zhejiang Tourism Investment Group, appears to be headed for official approval to begin operations after a wait of more than two years.

Pan Gongsheng, the governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said on Wednesday that the PBOC and the government of Zhejiang province are gearing up to guide Qiantang through the application process.

The company's wait stretches back to November 2021 when the PBOC, China's central bank, said it had accepted an application from Ant Group, state-backed Zhejiang Tourism Investment Group and four other investors to set up Qiantang as a joint-venture firm.

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If approved, Qiantang would become the third licensed personal credit firm in mainland China. Known as credit scoring or credit investigation companies, such firms examine the credit histories of individuals and share that information with financial institutions to help the latter assess creditworthiness.

The company will have 1 billion yuan (US$141 million) in registered capital and will be owned 35 per cent each by Ant Group and Zhejiang Tourism, which is controlled by the government of Zhejiang. The rest will belong to investors including Zhejiang-based conglomerate Transfar Group and state-owned Hangzhou Financial Investment Group, according to a notice published on the PBOC website.

Qiantang was set up as part of a sweeping overhaul that transformed Ant Group into a financial holding company after regulators pulled the plug on its highly anticipated US$34 billion initial public offering in 2020.

According to guidelines published by the PBOC in 2020, the central bank needs to process all licence applications for personal-credit scoring companies within 60 days of formal submission.

The last licence was granted in December 2020 to Pudao Credit Rating, backed by e-commerce company JD.com, smartphone maker Xiaomi and artificial intelligence firm Megvii.

The central bank will promote the development of the country's credit investigation and payment industries while pushing for the reform and opening up of China's financial sectors, PBOC's Pan said during Wednesday's media briefing. These efforts will make the financial markets more "standardised, transparent, open, dynamic and resilient", he said.

Additionally, the bank pledged to provide China's real economy with higher quality and more efficient financing services by "further improving financing structures, market systems and product systems".

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

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