Consumer Credit Risk Management in an Emerging Market: The Case of China

Abstract

With the liberalization of the financial service sector mandated by China's access to the WTO, China's credit card market has received a great deal of attention from global financial institutions. This paper examines the enormous growth opportunities and key barriers facing the development of the credit card industry in China, and discusses the importance and tools of consumer credit risk management. In the process of rapid expansion of China's consumer credit card industry, credit risk management should be treated as a top priority to avoid a pile up of bad debt in credit card receivables. This requires the development of an updated and comprehensive national consumer credit database and the use of credit risk modeling and scoring in predicting consumer behavior. As structured finance develops in China, the securitization of credit card receivables into asset-backed securities might also serve as an alternative to traditional credit risk management. (Edited by Zhinan Zhang)