First, the disorder of credit order has become a prominent problem that restricts China's economic development.
After more than 20 years of reform and opening up, China's economy has basically entered the track of socialist market economy, and the market mechanism has begun to play a fundamental role in resource allocation. Credit transaction has become the main transaction mode in China's economic life. In recent years, a "buyer's market" for commodities in China has taken shape. In order to stimulate the expansion of market demand, various credit trading methods are constantly introduced, and bank credit loans, enterprise credit sales and credit purchases and personal credit consumption behaviors are increasing. However, with the continuous expansion of credit transaction scale, the disorder of social credit order has become a prominent problem that restricts China's economic development. The phenomenon of dishonesty is not only common, but also quite serious. A large number of overdue loans of banks can not be recovered, which makes the non-performing loans of commercial banks increase continuously and the financial systemic risks intensify; The triangular debt chain between enterprises has been difficult to solve for a long time, even dragging down and killing some enterprises; In commercial transactions, a large number of acts such as fraud, counterfeiting and infringement of intellectual property rights are repeatedly prohibited; There are many examples of fraud, false information disclosure and bad pile speculation in the capital market; Some malicious debt behaviors in personal consumption credit are also constantly exposed.
The disorder of credit order has caused serious harm to social and economic life, which not only seriously destroyed the market order, greatly increased the market transaction cost and reduced the efficiency of economic operation, but also directly affected and restricted the normal play of the role of market mechanism in allocating resources, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the government's policy of starting investment and expanding domestic demand; A large number of dishonest behaviors have also destroyed the normal credit relationship between economic entities based on contracts, resulting in social problems such as the deterioration of social atmosphere and the decline of moral standards. After China's entry into WTO, the disorder of credit order has seriously damaged China's international credit image and affected the quality and process of opening up to the outside world to some extent.
Two, to promote the construction of China's social credit system must solve several important problems
(1) How to correctly understand the relationship between dishonesty and credit system.
In recent years, there have been a series of dishonesty incidents in China, such as "moon cake dishonesty incident", "listed company dishonesty incident" and "certified public accountants helping to falsify". The problem of credit system and dishonesty has become a common concern of all walks of life. The government, enterprises and all walks of life have reached a high consensus on establishing credit concept, speeding up the construction of social credit system and creating credit environment. But at the end of the year before last, events such as "Enron" and "Andersen" broke out in the United States, which is known as the most developed market economy and the most sound credit system. It seems that some people are complacent, arrogant and even gloat. These situations have exposed two extreme problems in our understanding. One extreme: in the past, we were a country with serious dishonesty, so some people think that our country is a country without credit, a country without credit, and a country without credit. At the other extreme, the credit crisis broke out in the United States at the end of last year. Some people think that Americans are not as trustworthy as China. Two extreme understandings lead to a problem: the relationship between dishonesty and credit system.
Will a country break its promise? It can be said that a country with the strictest and most perfect social credit system is bound to break its promise. China is still breaking its promise, and so is the United States. What are the characteristics and differences between these two countries? I think the biggest difference is that after the dishonesty in the United States, the whole social credit system will quickly reflect it, disclose and expose it in time, and then punish it through law. Including the reason why the US Department of Justice sued the untrustworthy, it is not that the untrustworthy did something wrong, but that the untrustworthy broke the law, the untrustworthy destroyed the evidence, and the untrustworthy made a fraud. If you become a faithless person for objective reasons (such as filing for bankruptcy due to business failure), society will forgive this kind of faithless person, but society and law will not forgive the guilty faithless person.
In terms of credit, the biggest problem in China at present is that it has not established a perfect social credit system. When our market players break their promises, our government, intermediary agencies and all walks of life often cannot immediately reflect and expose them. For example, in 2002, the well-known listed company "Zhongxin" caused serious dishonesty. So many banks, so many social intermediaries and so many investors failed to make a quick judgment and disclose the problem of dishonesty. It was a university teacher who discovered this problem while conducting a case study. It can be said that this phenomenon of dishonesty fully reflects that the construction of our country's social credit system needs to be accelerated and improved as soon as possible.
(B) Several practical problems that restrict the construction of China's social credit system
1. is a problem of unifying credit codes. There are two options for a unified credit code. One is the mandatory government code (such as personal identity card code and organization code), and the other is the voluntary enterprise code (such as bank loan certificate number, Dunbar enterprise code and China credit code). In promoting the construction of social credit system, whether to adopt government code forced by the government, enterprise code recognized by the society, or a combination of the two. In this regard, the understanding of all walks of life is very inconsistent. I think we should first define whether social credit activities are government activities or commercial activities. In social life and market transactions, the disclosure of credit information is inseparable from the legal status of its subject: government agencies are public managers elected by citizens, so we must force government departments to publicly disclose their credit records according to law; Market subjects (individuals and enterprises, etc.). ) is a party to the market transaction, and the credit record shall be disclosed according to the voluntary contract; Credit intermediary is a special market subject, and its business activities such as credit investigation, credit evaluation, credit guarantee and credit consultation are special credit behaviors. Therefore, credit services should be provided according to the special provisions of the state and commercial contracts. Whether it is government departments, market entities or credit intermediaries, when disclosing credit records, we should not only improve transparency, but also pay attention to protecting trade secrets.
2. This is a question of advocating the concept of credit. The credit concept of citizens, enterprises, various organizations, especially the government, is the basis and premise to determine whether a country can establish a social credit system that meets the requirements of the market economy system and WTO rules. To advocate the concept of credit and strengthen credit education, we must start with dolls. Adults in the whole society, especially civil servants at all levels, must first "start from me" and must take trustworthiness as the minimum and lowest social moral bottom line for everyone. To advocate credit concept, we must first form social fashion, and at the same time regard credit concept as a moral value, a commodity value or a capital value.
3. It is the problem of cultivating credit demand. The social credit problem in China began to sprout from 1990 with the work of cleaning up the "triangle debt". After two stages of development, credit evaluation and credit guarantee, and entering the stage of social credit system construction, social credit intermediaries are still in a difficult situation. The fundamental reason lies in the lack of credit concept of the whole society and the lack of government credit legal system, which leads to a serious shortage of credit demand in the whole market. Especially after the end of the planned economy system, we are still used to operating the government credit demand, which unconsciously leads to the government credit demand crowding out the credit demand of enterprises, especially individuals. Its performance is that enterprises cannot do without bank loans, personal savings of banks remain high, and there are almost no real credit cards (debit cards). Therefore, how to dilute the government's credit demand, stabilize the enterprise's credit demand and start the individual's credit demand has become an important key to build a social credit system.
4. Strengthen credit management. Enterprise is the cell of national economy and the most important market subject. Its own credit management is not only the foundation of enterprise's survival and development, but also related to the credit status of the whole society. Effective credit management of enterprises is not only conducive to opening up markets and expanding demand, but also conducive to controlling their own credit risks. Strict trust management of enterprises can not only gain the trust and credit line of suppliers, but also help enterprises to minimize financial expenses. Strengthening credit management is an enterprise's own management activity, but the government has the responsibility to guide enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to strengthen credit management and help enterprises continuously improve their credit ability. At present, the credit guarantee system for small and medium-sized enterprises promoted by local governments has played an important role in improving the credit capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises.
5. It is the problem of developing credit intermediary. The main body of social credit system is social credit intermediary institutions, including credit reporting companies, credit reporting companies, credit evaluation companies, credit guarantee companies and credit consulting companies. The establishment of social credit intermediary institutions is based on their own credit and necessary capital to undertake business responsibilities, and as a third party to provide credit products or services to all sectors of society independently, fairly, objectively and equally. Therefore, it is decided that the organizers of social credit intermediaries should not be government agencies with law enforcement status or interest groups with monopoly position in the market, but should be jointly funded by private investors. Due to different business attributes, all kinds of social credit intermediaries must also define their service objects, service contents and service positioning.
6. This is a question of forming a credit system. On the basis of the above five aspects, firstly, the role of the government in the construction of social credit system should be defined as: perfecting the credit legal system, cultivating credit demand, improving the transparency of government credit information, and promoting the pace of the construction of four major credit systems: first, the government information disclosure system based on governments at all levels and e-government; The second is the peer credit system of self-discipline and rights protection based on industry associations and member units; Third, the self-control independent credit system based on the enterprise itself and risk management; Fourthly, the socialized commercial service credit system based on credit intermediary and market operation. Only when the government, associations, enterprises and intermediaries develop their own credit systems simultaneously can we finally form a social credit system of "realizing interconnection and information sharing" in China.
Three, the status quo, problems and prospects of China's social credit system construction
(A), the situation facing the social credit system in China
China has moved towards a socialist market economy, and China has been integrated into economic globalization. The construction of China's social credit system must also learn from international practices and experiences. To this end, the construction of China's social credit system is facing the following situations: First, according to the requirements of the market economy system, the government has withdrawn from the field of market competition, and the professional division of responsibilities of social public managers has become the general trend; Second, the WTO requires opening the service trade market and implementing national treatment, and it is a foregone conclusion that foreign credit intermediaries will enter the China market; Thirdly, China local social credit intermediaries have been integrated into the market economy for ten years, and have trained a professional credit team with both domestic and foreign experience. It has become an overall situation to continue to improve one's ability and participate in fair competition in the market; Fourthly, internationally renowned credit intermediaries have developed for hundreds of years since their birth in the United States. The European model is also summing up experience, and the Japanese model lacks reflection, which objectively requires us not to "start from scratch" and repeat the mistakes of others.
(B), China social credit system construction mode judgment.
Due to the long-term implementation of the planned economy system, we not only lack social credit intermediaries, but also lack national credit system, citizen credit concept and enterprise credit management, especially the transparency of government official credit and the public disclosure of credit records formed by it are more prominent. Therefore, to promote the construction of social credit system, we must first solve the problem of government's positioning in the construction of social credit system, and on this basis, explore the government information disclosure system based on governments at all levels and e-government according to different subjects; Self-discipline and rights protection credit system based on industry associations and member units; Self-control independent credit system based on enterprise itself and risk management: social commercial service credit system based on credit intermediary and market operation. Therefore, the target model of China's social credit system construction should be that the government, associations, enterprises and intermediaries develop their own credit systems simultaneously, and finally form a social credit system with different levels, interconnection and information sharing.
(3), the current social credit system construction progress and existing problems.
After the Premier's government work report in 2002 put forward the requirement of strengthening social credit construction, the improvement of credit environment and credit concept in various places has been greatly promoted, which mainly has the following characteristics: First, the openness of government credit information has been greatly improved. According to the survey, credit punishment mechanisms such as credit network, credit platform, credit file and even blacklist system of dishonesty are being established in various places, so that those who break their promises cannot survive in the market. Second, strengthening credit management can greatly reduce transaction costs, and the understanding and concept of solving information asymmetry are gradually taking shape. Third, the competition mechanism in the credit market has been greatly enhanced. At a certain stage in the past, some government-licensed businesses have formed a certain degree of monopoly. With the development of social credit system, this phenomenon will become less and less. Fourth, the living and development environment of credit institutions has been greatly improved, and the legal status of credit institutions is gradually taking shape. The Regulations on Credit Information drafted by the People's Bank of China clarified the legal status of credit information institutions. Because the government and all walks of life attach importance to credit and advocate the concept of credit, it has created a good environment for the development of credit institutions.
However, there are also some problems in the construction of social credit system in some areas. To sum up, the outstanding problems in the construction of China's social credit system are concentrated in five aspects: first, the situation of credit construction in full swing; Second, the operation of credit business does not distinguish between government and enterprises; Third, it is difficult for credit institutions to self-discipline; Fourth, credit service behavior is not protected; Fifth, the market demand for credit products is insufficient.
(4) The prospect of China's social credit system.
Due to the influence of the long-term planned economic system, there are still strong voices calling for highlighting the role of the government in the construction of social credit system, even replacing market behavior with government behavior, replacing market credit intermediaries with government agencies, and setting up credit institutions funded by the government to monopolize the credit service market at least in the initial stage of work promotion. Because government departments are not on an equal footing with social credit intermediaries and private investors, it is very possible or inevitable for government departments to monopolize the credit service market for a certain period in some places or even the whole country. However, if the above results occur, it will pay a heavy social and economic cost and a painful lesson that has occurred repeatedly in history. However, no matter what judgments and decisions decision makers make, no matter what twists and turns and setbacks appear, the market will always play a fundamental role in allocating social credit intermediaries and make objective choices. Judging from the historical experience and future development of countries around the world, the above-mentioned target model of social credit system development will be verified by history.
Four, improve the social credit system in the near and medium term goals and policy recommendations.
(A) the basic goal of improving the social credit system
The so-called social credit system is a comprehensive system consisting of a series of credit-related moral culture, relevant laws and regulations, institutional norms, organizational forms, technical means, operating tools and models within a country or region under the conditions of market economy. Suggestions for establishing and perfecting China's social credit system are as follows:
Short-term and medium-term goal: learn from foreign experience and combine with the reality of China to establish a basic framework of social credit system that is compatible with the socialist market economic system. This institutional framework mainly includes four aspects: first, the social credit morality and cultural environment required by the socialist market economy are basically established; Second, under the legal norms, establish a socialized social credit information sharing mechanism and strive to reduce the asymmetry of social credit information; Third, improve the credit legal system and strictly enforce the law, improve the punishment mechanism for dishonesty, and increase the cost of violation; The fourth is to improve and perfect the credit supervision system and related systems.
Long-term goal: On the basis of the above goals, it will take about 8- 10 years to form a relatively perfect social credit system, so that the society can form a good credit environment and a relatively standardized market credit order.
(B) policy recommendations to improve the social credit system in the near and medium term
1. Popularize the credit culture and credit consciousness of modern market economy.
The urgent task is to popularize credit culture and create an honest and trustworthy social and cultural environment. First, through various publicity and education methods, schools, enterprises, communities, trade associations and other organizations are widely used to carry out effective credit ethics training and education. The second is to improve the social subject's awareness of trustworthiness and knowledge of safeguarding rights, consciously participate in supervision and resist dishonesty. The third is to guide and cultivate market players to pay attention to the social evaluation of their own credit degree and strive to improve the credit rating.
2 to guide enterprises to improve the internal credit management system.
Promote the internal credit management of enterprises in various ways, and reduce the credit risks and losses caused by improper credit granting. Whether the internal credit management system has been established and improved in various evaluation systems of enterprises should be regarded as an important index to evaluate enterprise governance and management. We can organize relevant experts, scholars and enterprise managers to study and analyze the credit system and credit management experience of foreign enterprises, provide credit management suggestions for domestic enterprises, and help enterprises establish a standardized credit management system.
3. Improve and perfect the transparent and open system of social credit information.
The openness and openness of social basic credit information and reducing the asymmetry of credit information are important prerequisites for establishing a social credit system. Policy recommendations in this regard are:
(1) Establish an open system of social basic credit data.
We should immediately formulate and promulgate relevant laws and regulations to standardize the procedures for the disclosure, dissemination and use of public information and credit data. It should be clearly defined which credit data of the government and enterprises must be open, and the scope and degree of opening. In terms of information disclosure, it is particularly important to emphasize the disclosure of government-related government information. For the behavior that should be made public but not released to the public in time, the relevant government departments must bear the corresponding responsibilities and establish an "accountability system". The credit information of some social members held by financial institutions should also be provided to relevant institutions through legal channels and methods, and allowed to be legally disseminated within the scope prescribed by law.
(2) Encourage and support important industries to establish credit information platforms.
Support and encourage some important industries to establish credit information sharing platforms and carry out joint credit investigation activities within the industry. Through the collection, updating and standardized dissemination of relevant information in the industry, the information symmetry in the industry is greatly improved and the dishonesty in the industry is reduced. In this regard, we should give more play to the role of trade associations, build information databases through market-oriented methods, and establish a set of standardized update, retrieval and use procedures.
(3) Promote and standardize the healthy development of credit intermediary service industry.
First, make clear the development model and market access rules of China's credit intermediary service industry. According to China's national conditions, it is suggested that the credit intermediary industry should adopt the development mode of privatization and marketization, and the government should not participate in the investment and operation of credit intermediary service institutions in principle. In terms of market access, there should be strict regulations on the market access and qualification conditions of personal credit information agencies to prevent personal credit information from being abused. However, a relatively low entry threshold can be set for enterprise credit reporting agencies. The access and management of credit rating agencies should be stricter and more standardized. Second, while promoting the opening of credit information, credit intermediaries are encouraged to establish a database with large coverage and complete information content, and the government should give support in terms of loans at the initial stage of database construction. We should also strengthen the research on the norms and rating standards of the credit investigation and credit rating industry to promote the social sharing of credit information. Third, efforts should be made to solve the problem of insufficient demand for credit services. For example, if some financial instruments and varieties involved in the securities market want to transition to compulsory rating, such as bonds to be listed and issued, the credit rating of listed companies must be evaluated. Fourth, establish an effective credit intermediary supervision system.
4. Strengthen credit legislation and law enforcement, and improve the disciplinary mechanism for dishonesty.
The legislative focus in the near and medium term should mainly include the following aspects: First, formulate laws and regulations related to fair credit information service as soon as possible. It is suggested that China should promulgate the Regulations on the Openness of Government Information, the Regulations on the Management of Personal Credit Information, the Regulations on the Promotion of Enterprise Credit Information and the Measures for the Management of Commercial Credit Information as soon as possible. Second, we should revise some existing laws and regulations that conflict with the construction of social credit system. For example, focus on studying contract law, commercial banking law, enterprise bankruptcy law, guarantee law, archives law, secrecy law, statistics law, general principles of civil law, company law, civil procedure law, criminal law and so on. Third, study and improve the disciplinary mechanism for dishonesty as soon as possible, and clarify the starting point and focus of the design of disciplinary mechanism for dishonesty, the difference and legal boundary between dishonesty and crime, the form and degree of disciplinary mechanism for dishonesty, the operation and implementation effect of disciplinary mechanism for dishonesty, and so on. The "blacklist" publicity system of untrustworthy enterprises should have legal collection and dissemination channels.
5. Improve the government credit supervision system and system.
First, clarify the government's regulatory departments and their regulatory functions. The second is to clarify the power and responsibility of supervision and punishment of the regulatory authorities. For example, the United States Federal Trade Commission is responsible for accepting consumers' complaints about the service contents of credit intermediary service institutions and has the right to investigate and deal with violations against consumers in credit services. The third is to establish a systematic and institutionalized supervision system and avoid the "sports" supervision mode.
6. Give play to the role of trade associations in the construction of social credit system.
The focus of trade associations is to strengthen members' awareness of trustworthiness and rights protection, and guide enterprises in the industry to improve the credit management system; Formulate industry credit development plan, create conditions to establish industry credit information database, and carry out joint credit investigation activities within the industry; Put forward relevant legislative suggestions; Establish a disciplinary mechanism for dishonesty in the industry, punish serious dishonesty according to law, and improve the credit order of the industry.