China's central bank urges proper data usage, stronger personal data protection

China's central bank governor Yi Gang on Wednesday called for fairer data use for the protection of personal information.

Addressing Hong Kong FinTech Week 2021 via video link, Yi said personal data protection is high on the agenda of the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

He noted the issue has come to the fore amid the rapid development of fintech.

Some big tech firms have either collected data without permission or misused it, and there are also cases of customer data leakage, Yi said. "It is urgent that we strengthen personal data protection," he said.

Since 2005, the PBOC has introduced data protection regulations in the areas of anti-money laundering, consumer protection and credit information.

"China rolled out the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law in June and August respectively this year, and the legal system for the protection of personal information was initially established," Yi said.

The PBOC has recently focused on cracking down on the excessive collection of consumer data, urging financial institutions to collect, use and store information for legitimate purposes and in strict accordance with the principles of lawfulness and minimum necessity, he said.

International coordination in fields such as anti-trust, data and consumer protection should be enhanced, he said, calling for "joined hands" to set standards for personal data protection.

"Going forward, we will continue to improve the legal framework for personal data protection in the financial sector and strengthen regulations accordingly," Yi said.