China to push its tech giants to share consumer credit data: Report

China plans to push tech giants including Ant Group, Tencent and JD.com to share consumer loan data to prevent excess borrowing and fraud, two people with knowledge of the matter said, in Beijing’s latest tightening of scrutiny.
 
The plan, if implemented, would effectively end the government’s laissez-faire approach to the industry. Large Internet platforms have tended to resist handing over their data, a crucial asset that helps them run operations, manage risk and lure new customers.
 
Chinese regulators, including the central bank, plan to instruct internet platforms to feed their vast loan data to some of the nationwide credit agencies, the people said. The agencies, which are run or backed by the People’s Bank of China, will share the data more widely with banks and other lenders to adequately evaluate risks and prevent over-borrowing, the people said. Ant and Tencent declined to comment. The people declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

 

China stocks slump most in 3 weeks on valuation concerns
 
Chinese stocks fell the most in three weeks, led by consumer shares and commodity producers, amid concern valuations for the most popular stocks were stretched and as metal prices slumped. The CSI 300 Index dropped as much 1.5 per cent before paring losses to 1 per cent at the close.
 
Gauges tracking energy, consumer staples and materials producers slumped more than 2 per cent. Mainland investors appeared to flock to HK equities instead, buying a record $2.5 billion of the city’s shares through trading links Monday.