China has set up a national unified financing and credit service platform, a movable property financing registration system, as well as a capital flow credit platform to enhance credit-based financing services for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), according to a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on Wednesday.
On April 2, 2025, the State Council Information Office holds a press conference in Beijing on improving the social credit system. [Photo by Liu Jian/China SCIO]
The national financing and credit service platform integrates 74 key data points, including business registration, tax payments, social insurance, and housing provident funds, granting financial institutions access to such information upon approval, said Li Chunlin, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
By the end of February 2025, banks across China had issued 37.3 trillion yuan (US$5.2 trillion) in loans through the platform, including 9.4 trillion yuan in credit loans, effectively addressing the financing needs of MSMEs.
Local governments have also leveraged the platform to enhance financing accessibility. In Chongqing, authorities have gathered agricultural credit data, enabling farmers in pilot areas to secure loans based on their creditworthiness. Around 30% of farmers now have access to credit financing, rising from less than 10%, while loan interest rates for top-rated credit users dropped from 3.55% to 2.75%.
In Dalian, northeastern China’s Liaoning province, the platform has helped develop online credit loan products that require no collateral and offer instant approval. This has expanded credit access from 30,000 to 190,000 businesses, with total loans issued rising from 11 billion yuan to 36 billion yuan.
Looking forward, the NDRC plans to expand information sharing, enhance data quality, and improve platform services. It aims to offer a broader range of financial products for enterprises and provide credit reports and assessments for financial institutions.
To further develop data-driven financial solutions, a national joint lab has been established to analyze key information so as to support financial institutions to develop tailored financing products for private MSMEs, Li added.
A robotics intelligent manufacturing factory in operation in Tangshan, north China’s Hebei province, Feb. 18, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
To further address the financing challenges faced by MSMEs due to a lack of collateral, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) has established a unified registration and disclosure system for movable asset financing, said Ren Yongmei, director general of the Credit Information System Bureau of the PBC.
This system enables the registration and inquiry of various types of collateral, enhancing financing accessibility for MSMEs. By the end of 2024, the system had processed 44 million registrations and handled 260 million inquiries.
In October 2024, the PBC also initiated a MSME capital flow credit information sharing platform to help businesses establish credit histories. This enables financial institutions to provide MSMEs first loans and credit-based financing. By the end of last year, the platform had created credit files for 56 million enterprises and individual businesses and covered 88 million capital flow accounts.