中国消费信贷进入全国

China's State Council has approved the expansion of a pilot consumer credit service from 16 cities to full nationwide implementation, hoping to release the spending potential of those with low to medium income.

Xiaojing bought a digital camera recently using the mobile shopping app of Suning, the big Chinese appliance retailer. But she didn't pay for it the conventional way.

Suning set up its own "consumer credit" company in late May. It offers loans ranging from several thousand yuan up to 200,000 yuan. The repayment period can be as long as 5 years, with 30 days interest-free. The company bases its loan decisions on consumers'online spending history, and works with new personal credit rating agencies. Those help evaluate whether it's safe to grant loans, and how big they should be. E-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com have already launched similar services.

China began pilot tests of consumer credit systems in 2010 with four financial agencies, which extended small loans for retail purchases. The State Council says that private capital, foreign and domestic banks, and Internet companies are all being encouraged to set up consumer finance operations. Approval procedures of these companies will be streamlined. Experts say the decision was made to spur domestic demand, after a big slide in China's imports and continued easing of both domestic and foreign investment. China's economy expanded 7 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year. That's the lowest quarterly growth since 2009.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission says China's consumer credit industry now reaches 1.35 million consumers. It was capitalized at 22.4 billion yuan at the end of 2014, when it made a profit of 466 million yuan. With the program now going nationwide, research firm iResearch says China's consumer credit market will grow at an annual rate of more than 20 percent between 2014 and 2017, when it should be worth more than 27 trillion yuan.