CHINA’S central bank has accepted the application to set up a personal credit-scoring joint venture backed by Alibaba’s fintech affiliate Ant Group and other firms. Qiantang Credit Rating Co. will become the third personal credit scoring firm in China if officially approved by regulators. It will be registered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province with a capital of 1 billion yuan (US$156.50 million), the central bank said. The city is where Alibaba and Ant are based. Ant and State-backed Zhejiang Tourism Investment Group Co. will each own 35 percent of the venture, according to a statement by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) last week. Other State-backed partners, including Hangzhou Finance and Investment Group and Zhejiang Electronic Port, will hold 6.5 percent each. Transfar Group, a non-State-backed shareholder, will hold 7 percent, while the remaining 10 percent will be held by Hangzhou Xishu. Hangzhou Xishu is an entity that operates employee stock ownership plans, a source with knowledge of the matter said. The launch of the venture is part of Ant’s sweeping business revamp ordered by regulators who put a sudden stop to its blockbuster initial public offering (IPO) last November. The set-up also serves as the central bank’s year-long attempt to link loan data among different online lending platforms and tighten controls in credit information sharing to prevent over-borrowing and fraud. Before Qiantang Credit Rating, the central bank had approved Baihang Credit in 2018, China’s first licensed personal credit agency with nine parties co-invested, including credit rating units of Ant and Tencent Holdings. It granted a second such approval to set up Pudao Credit Rating in December 2020, a venture between the investment arm of the Beijing city government and subsidiaries of e-commerce giant JD.com and smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. (SD-Agencies) | 