Chinese banks are ushering in a new era for the digital economy by launching loans that use borrowers’ data assets as collateral, reports Caixin. This innovative financial product is in line with businesses and regulators wish to assign tangible value to the vast amounts of data generated in today’s digital commercial world.
Leading the charge, the Xiamen branch of the state-owned China Construction Bank recently granted a 3.5-million-yuan ($486,000) data asset loan to an auto service digital platform startup, Caixin learned from the bank.
Data loan is a new type of loan product China Construction Bank launched in February and is based on an evaluation of the borrower’s data assets and business operation, the bank said.