PBOC’s Zou Lan: Strictly Enforce Licensing for Credit Agencies, Crack Down on Unlicensed Credit Reporting

The dual message matters: tougher licensing enforcement alongside an explicit push toward AI- and data-enhanced credit products signals the PBOC wants consolidation around approved players rather than a wider field. Credit agencies operating without licenses, and smaller data vendors adjacent to credit reporting, face the clearest exposure. The open question is how the line between "data + credit reporting" innovation and unlicensed activity gets drawn in practice, since that boundary determines which firms benefit from the upgrade push and which fall under the crackdown.