China to create national name-and-shame system for ‘deadbeat borrowers’

A system to name and shame “deadbeats” who fail to repay their bank loans will be rolled out across China by the end of the year, with anyone who defaults to be blacklisted and have their personal details made public.

In many Chinese cities, laolai, or “deadbeat borrowers”, are already publicly shamed in a bid to make them repay their loans.

Now, the Supreme People’s Court, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the Communist Party’s Publicity Department have decided to make this a national policy, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

Those who fail to repay a bank loan will be blacklisted, and they will have their name, ID number, photograph, home address and the amount they owe published or announced through various channels – including in newspapers, online, on radio and television, and on screens in buses and public lifts.

Local governments have been told to set up name-and-shame databases – which will be searchable by anyone – by the end of the year, the report said.

These databases will be run by local media outlets, with the courts providing details of the debt defaulters and the banking regulator updating lenders on the blacklist.