On October 15, Caixin Financial News (Reporter Peng Kefeng) reported that under the backdrop of stricter regulations, the debt collection work in the financial industry is bound to become more formal.

On October 14, Bank of Communications announced on its official website that if customers are involved in overdue repayment or have other outstanding personal loan (consumer loan) arrears not repaid as agreed, the bank may entrust a third party to collect the debt from the individual. At the same time, to strictly manage third-party companies and enhance information disclosure, the bank is now publicly disclosing the list of third-party companies entrusted by Bank of Communications.

Caixin reporters noted that this is the first state-owned major bank to publicly disclose the list of third-party collection agencies this year. On May 15 of this year, the China Internet Finance Association had already issued the "Internet Finance Loan Recovery Guidelines", emphasizing that financial institutions should supervise and inspect third-party collection agencies evaluated, strengthening constraints.

Beijing Xinuo Law Firm Partner Shi Xiaofeng told Caixin reporters that from the information they have, there has been a significant increase in inquiries from bank personnel regarding debt collection recently. In the long run, banks will inevitably become more standardized in dealing with the collection and disposal of non-performing loans.

Bank of Communications Takes the Lead in Publicly Announcing the List of Third-Party Collection Agencies

Yesterday, Bank of Communications published on its official website "Public Disclosure of Third-Party Collection Agencies for Personal Loans (Consumer Loans) in Cooperation with Bank of Communications".

In the article, Bank of Communications stated that if customers are involved in personal loan payments that have not been repaid according to the agreement or other outstanding personal loan (consumer loan) payments, the bank may entrust third parties to remind the individual of the debt through telephone calls, letters, text messages, emails, door-to-door visits, judicial channels, etc.; inquire about the customer's valid contact information provided to Bank of Communications, or ask them to contact the customer on behalf; or provide the necessary information for repayment to the willing guarantor.

Bank of Communications further stated that in order to strictly manage third-party companies and enhance information disclosure, the list of third-party companies entrusted by the bank is now being made public. The published list consists of third-party companies that have signed outsourcing collection cooperation agreements with Bank of Communications and whose contracts are still valid.

Financial Network noted that Bank of Communications has disclosed a list of 15 third-party companies, distributed in multiple cities nationwide including Beijing, Hefei, Shenzhen, and Nam Cheong.

Today, according to searches on the official websites and public information of major banks, Financial Network reporters found that this is the first state-owned large bank to publicly disclose a list of third-party collection agencies it collaborates with this year.

New regulations on internet finance loan collection have been issued, with multiple banks having already issued recruitment notices for professional collection personnel this year.

It is worth noting that although the reporters have not yet found other major banks publishing lists of third-party collection agencies they cooperate with, Postal Savings Bank of China has recently released multiple public notices on credit card new and canceled outbound call numbers, as well as personal loan after-service follow-ups and collection contact numbers.

In the article, Postal Savings Bank of China stated that this action is "to enhance our service efficiency, and provide customers with more professional asset preservation services" and "to enhance our service efficiency and provide customers with more professional personal loan services".

The journalist noticed that in May of this year, the China Internet Finance Association has already issued the "Internet Finance Loan Collection Guidelines", which have put forward many requirements from the operational level for collection behavior and the collection industry, aiming to regulate collection behavior.

The above-mentioned document highlights that financial institutions should supervise and inspect third-party collection agencies that have been evaluated, identify, discover, and deal with various anomalies and risks in a timely manner. If a third-party collection agency no longer meets the selection criteria, it should be promptly removed from the list. Financial institutions should evaluate the third-party collection agencies they entrust, conduct evaluations at least once a year, with a focus on the compliance of collection behavior, quality and efficiency of task completion, information security management, collection records, complaint handling, and more.

From publicly available information, within the year, many commercial banks such as China Everbright Bank, Hua Xia Bank, WeBank, Hunan Sanxiang Bank, etc., have successively issued relevant recruitment notices openly recruiting talent in the field of collection.

For example, on June 25th, China Everbright Bank released a recruitment information for the "China Everbright Bank Retail and Wealth Management Department Customer Operations Center Exclusive Operations Team Phone Collection Position". The recruitment information shows that the responsibilities of this position include managing the assigned post-loan accounts, promptly notifying defaulting customers via phone, etc.

Hunan Sanxiang Bank had also previously published relevant recruitment notices on its WeChat public account "Sanxiang Bank HR", which included two types of talent related to collection: "senior collection management personnel" and "senior telephone collection talent". Sanxiang Bank requires that both "senior collection management personnel" and "senior telephone collection talent" have a bachelor's degree or above, and have 5 years or more of relevant collection work experience, with those with backgrounds in law, finance, accounting, management, and related fields being preferred.