Recently, the news that the central bank issued the largest credit investigation ticket in history pushed the established corporate credit investigation agency Pengyuan Credit Investigation to the forefront.
The administrative penalty information published by the People’s Bank of China on December 30, 2020 shows that Pengyuan Credit Information Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Pengyuan Credit Information") engaged in personal credit investigation business activities without approval, and was appointed by corporate credit investigation agencies For senior management personnel who failed to file illegal acts in a timely manner, 19.1755 million yuan of illegal income was confiscated and a fine of 620,000 yuan was imposed, with a total fine of 19,975,500 yuan.
It is understood that this penalty is the largest fine ever issued by a credit bureau.
Pengyuan Credit Report also became the first corporate credit reporting agency to be punished for engaging in personal credit reporting without authorization.
Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at the Sack Research Institute, told China Business News that the ticket is an important manifestation of the “opening of the front door and blocking the side door” of financial supervision, combined with the acceptance by the central bank in December 2020 of Pudao Credit Information Co., Ltd. (preparatory) personal credit investigation business It can be seen from the application that the opening of the personal credit license plate is "opening the front door", while the penalty for Pengyuan's credit report this time is "blocking the side door."
In Su Xiaorui’s view, the first receipt of fines by credit reporting agencies in the field of personal credit reporting has fully released a market signal: In my country, all financial institutions must be licensed, credit reporting services belong to financial businesses, and credit reporting industries belong to finance. Therefore, it must also operate under a license and must be approved by the People’s Bank of China. Market institutions must not engage in personal credit investigation activities without authorization.
At the State Council’s regular policy briefing held on December 25, 2020, Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the central bank, said in response to reporters that the central bank has three main considerations for the cultivation and management of the credit reporting market, and “strict supervision” is one of them. one.
Chen Yulu further pointed out that because the credit investigation business is information, information involves the protection of the people's information rights.
Therefore, information security and rights protection must be put first in supervision.
In accordance with the requirements of the "Civil Code" and "Credit Investigation Industry Management Regulations" and other laws and regulations, the central bank will continue to improve the credit investigation business management measures and use all information that provides services for financial and economic activities to determine the credit status of enterprises and individuals All services are included in the supervision of credit investigation and licensed operation.
Acts of illegally engaging in credit investigation business shall be strictly investigated and dealt with in accordance with laws and regulations.
The second personal credit investigation permit issued by the Central Bank is based on such a consideration that all personal credit investigation services are licensed.
Multiple credit reporting products of Pengyuan Credit Report cause controversy
Public information shows that Pengyuan Credit Information is one of the earliest commercial credit information institutions established in China. The "Shenzhen Personal Credit Information System" built by it has been in operation since August 2002, even before the Central Bank Credit Information Center.
In 2005, Pengyuan Credit Investigation Co., Ltd. was registered and established in Shenzhen, and its business gradually covered personal credit investigation and corporate credit investigation.
In January 2015, the Central Bank issued the "Notice on Preparing for Personal Credit Reporting Business", allowing 8 companies including Pengyuan Credit Report to carry out the first batch of pilot personal credit reporting services.
In April 2017, Wan Cunzhi, director of the Central Bank's Credit Information Management Bureau, publicly stated that none of the eight individual credit investigation pilot institutions were qualified, and pointed out that these eight institutions do not have third-party independence, and data separation is not conducive to information sharing.
In January 2018, the personal credit investigation pilot ended with the newly established Baixing Credit Reporting that won the country's first personal credit reporting license. Eight companies including Pengyuan Credit Reporting became shareholders of Baixing Credit Reporting, each holding 8% of the shares.
This means that Pengyuan Credit Investigation has not obtained a separate personal credit investigation license from beginning to end, and does not have the qualifications to directly conduct personal credit investigation business.
However, it is not difficult to see from Pengyuan Credit Investigation’s introduction of its credit investigation products and businesses, such as identity authentication, personal anti-fraud services, pre-loan risk prevention and control, user portraits, etc., that the personal credit investigation business belongs to Pengyuan Credit Investigation’s main business One of the business.
Some media reported in 2016 that personal credit reporting products accounted for nearly 70% of its income composition.
Among them, the Internet credit information platform "Tianxia Credit" launched by Pengyuan Credit Information in 2016 was exposed by the media as having provided loans and over-loan services, which caused controversy.
Not only has it set up a "hot loan" entry in the APP to guide the flow of loan products such as Xiaoying Card Loan, Hi Money, and China Merchants Union Good Future Loan, it has also cooperated with at least 9 cash loan platforms such as scheduled installment and provincial loan.
Since then, on the third-party complaint platform, Pengyuan Credit Information has been complained by users in the name of risk assessment report, and has cooperated with the cash loan platform to collect hundreds of related complaints such as heading interest.
In addition, Pengyuan Credit Information launched a new product "Shoudoudou" in August 2019, and it was removed one month after it went online. Some media pointed out that the product involved sensitive user data, such as mobile phone number verification and personal card transaction records. Etc., whether the data accessed by the platform has been audited and whether the data is obtained illegally has caused speculation in the industry.
It is worth noting that in addition to unlicensed personal credit investigation business, Pengyuan Credit Investigation is also engaged in credit repair related businesses.
According to the official website of Pengyuan Credit Information, it has been selected as a credit service agency that can issue credit reports for credit repair applicants, and can provide services for general, severely untrustworthy, and specific severely untrustworthy entities through credit repair training.
However, in response to the phenomenon of providing paid credit information repairs in the market, people in the central bank have stated on many public occasions that now some people in society have proposed that credit information cleaning or bad credit information records can be done.
These online scams must be propagated vigorously to prevent the people from being credulous.
According to media reports, the relevant person in charge of the Central Bank's Credit Information Management Bureau clearly pointed out that there is no claim to repair credit information in the current credit information system of the Central Bank. Overdue records will be counted from the month when the overdue debts are paid off. It is reserved for five years in China, "It is recommended that users protect personal information to prevent being deceived."
According to the information from Tianyan Check, the major shareholder of Pengyuan Credit Information is Shenzhen Jingmu Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jingmu Technology"), with a shareholding ratio of 53%. It also includes the natural person Gu Guoliang, who is also the legal person of Pengyuan Credit Information. Representatives and shareholders of Jingmu Technology.
In July 2018, Hongtu Hi-Tech (600122.SH), a listed company of Sanpower Group, announced that it plans to place a controlling stake in Pengyuan Credit Information, which is expected to be no less than 51%.
However, due to the debt crisis of Sanpower Group, Hongtu Hi-Tech announced again the following month that it would terminate the control of Pengyuan Credit Information.
Supervision puts on a "tightening curse"
In fact, in addition to the central bank's credit investigation system and Baixing's credit investigation, there are many third-party institutions in the market that provide paid data and information services through external delivery of personal credit investigation products.
A large number of third-party data service providers who conduct personal credit reporting in the name of big data risk control have created a gray area of data abuse and data transactions.
Chen Wen, director of the Digital Economy Research Center of the School of Finance, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, analyzed that the personal credit reporting market did not have a personal credit license before, so everyone is trying to do it, but now it is already issuing personal credit licenses. If anyone can continue For personal credit investigation, the value of the personal credit investigation license is not prominent, and it is impossible to rely on the issuance of licenses to regulate.
Chen Wen also said that behind the central bank’s fine of nearly 20 million yuan for Pengyuan’s credit investigation, it reflects the determination of the supervision to regulate financial data governance. The current unlicensed personal credit investigation is almost always a marginal use of data products. The current policy orientation of data governance is getting stronger and stronger, and the standardization of the acquisition, use and transaction of personal data is continuously strengthened.
According to Chen Yulu's introduction at the above-mentioned State Council policy briefing, the central bank's supervision of information security and personal information protection in the credit information market has continued to increase.
On the one hand, guide financial institutions to protect customers' personal financial information, regulate financial institutions’ business activities, and strengthen financial institutions’ awareness of personal information protection and legal compliance.
On the other hand, financial institutions, credit reporting agencies, and related persons responsible for information leakage or even illegal reselling of customer data will be severely punished in accordance with the law to form a regulatory deterrent.
In addition, the central bank has also cooperated with relevant departments to crack down on the illegal buying and selling of personal information in the name of big data companies and big data credit investigations, and investigate and punish fraudulent acts in the name of credit information services and corporate credit investigations.
Chen Yulu said that in the next step, the "Interim Measures for the Protection of Personal Financial Information" will be released in time in accordance with the new laws such as the Personal Information Protection Law and the Data Security Law to be promulgated by the country to regulate personal information in the financial field with greater efforts. Use in compliance with laws and regulations to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of information subjects.
"2021 will become an important year for personal credit investigation compliance and vigorous development. It is expected that more market-oriented institutions will actively participate in the application of personal credit investigation licenses, abide by regulatory requirements such as information security, privacy protection, and data regulation and data governance. Integrating the work of protecting the rights and interests of financial consumers, and moving forward steadily on the basis of adherence to compliance." Su Xiaorui told reporters.
Author: Miao Tour