A new credit rating system covering all personal bank accounts in Shanghai went into operation at the end of 2002, South China Morning Post said. The system uses records provided by local banks, home and car finance companies and the city's two major mobile phone service providers. These were analysed with assistance from Trans Union Advantage of Australia to establish a creditscoring system that is now open to all the lenders who provided data.
The system, which took two years to establish, is intended by the People's Bank of China to be a pilot that can be extended to other cities in China.