China launches national credit service platform to facilitate SME financing

Abstract : China officially launched a national credit service platform www.celoan.cn to facilitate small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) financing Tuesday on the Forum for Credit System Construction of Chinese Cities held in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province.

JINAN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China officially launched a national credit service platform www.celoan.cn to facilitate small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) financing Tuesday on the Forum for Credit System Construction of Chinese Cities held in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province.

The establishment of the platform represented China's vital efforts to innovate credit information application and financial services so as to help solve the difficulties and high costs issues in SME financing, said Zhou Min, head of the national public credit information center under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

According to Zhou, the platform boasts three typical features including functioning as a vital hub for SME credit information exchange and sharing, pooling various credit services and credit-based innovative lending products for one-stop financing services and being a comprehensive credit service system open to the whole country.

Currently, the 1.0 version of celoan.cn has completed technical development and already been tested in some cities. By far, 197 Chinese cities have opened accounts on the platform and about 30 financial institutions and over 20 credit service providers also planned to open accounts.

More cities and financial institutions are welcomed to enter the platform to ease the financing needs of more SMEs and better display the value of credit information, Zhou stated.

Held annually, the Forum for Credit System Construction of Chinese Cities is a national high-end forum guided by NDRC, the country’s top economic planner. Sponsored jointly by Xinhua News Agency and Jinan Municipal Government, this year's forum is organized by China Economic Information Service and Jinan Development and Reform Commission with "Credit wins the future" as its theme.