A senior central bank official said in Beijing on Tuesday that a nationwide personal credit database is being promoted and is expected to link all commercial banks by the end of this year.

Dai Genyou, director of the People's Bank of China (PBC)'s Credit Record Administration, said systems in Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Xi'an and three medium-sized cities in south China have been linked to the database since mid-December.

At present, the information contained on the database comes mainly from commercial banks and includes basic and credit information on borrowers and credit card holders. Information on student loan repayments are also included.

A nationwide personal credit system has been identified as badly needed as risk of loan defaults mounts with an increasing number of people borrowing to buy cars and houses.

Through the national system, personal loan and credit card application information from any bank branch will be recorded and shared by all banks to help expose loan fraud intentions.

Future linking of the database with the Ministry of Public Security, social security department and accumulation fund administration department could also mean a person's education and work record, public utility fee payments, civil judgments and tax arrears might be included in a credit check.

In 2002, the PBC launched a national credit record system for corporate borrowers and now the credit information of more than 4 million companies is available to commercial banks.

(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang June 9, 2005)