JD.com Inc (JD), China's second-largest online retailer, on Friday announced the establishment of a joint venture with a U.S.-based big data analytics company ZestFinance to introduce consumer credit-scoring service into China's booming Internet finance industry.
The new venture, named JD-ZestFinance Gaia, initially aims to provide credit risk assessment and installment loans for online purchases across JD's marketplaces, which has 100 million users and generated $5.9 billion revenue in the first quarter, read a press release e-mailed to the Global Times by JD.
JD also made an investment in its US partner but did not disclose the amount of the investment or the valuation of the venture.
While ZestFinance, founded by former Google executive Douglas Merrill, and JD may be the early ones to dip a toe into China's consumer credit service, they are not the first. Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of JD's larger rival Alibaba Group, has already set foot in the segment with the launch of a similar credit-scoring system, called Sesame Credit, in January.
With the active participation of tech companies, China's individual credit assessment system will be further improved, Wang Weidong, an analyst with Beijing-based market research firm iResearch, told the Global Times Sunday.
"The e-commerce companies have lots of data based on the consumers' purchasing activities to better help lenders gauge the trustworthiness of potential borrowers, especially when the loans are used for consumer spending," said Wang.
Consumer credit service is promoted by the government as part of the country's efforts to revamp the financial sector. Data from iResearch showed that China's loans to individuals for goods purchases will exceed 27 trillion yuan ($4.35 trillion) by 2017, growing at an annual rate of over 20 percent.
As for tech companies themselves, analysts said that the development of the credit-scoring system will generate new growth.
"Companies not only can immediately monetize their big data, but are able to further explore opportunities in Internet finance with the advantage of the credit evaluation infrastructure," said Wang.
