Chinese banks eye stronger governance of data

SHENZHEN - The Chinese banking industry's self-regulatory organization on Wednesday said more technological standards are in the pipeline to help better govern torrents of data in the sector.

As the industry is typically data-driven, stronger data governance gives a strong boost to lenders' efficiency and competitiveness, said Pan Guangwei, vice president of the China Banking Association (CBA), during a digital banking forum in south China's Shenzhen.

While the banks possess enormous troves of customer and transaction data, they face problems in data integration, standardization and application, which are dragging down the industry's digital transformation, Pan said.

The CBA will work on tech standards to facilitate data analysis, security and quality management, so as to build a sound ecosystem of big data governance, Pan said.

Data governance is a process to ensure an organization's data is consistent and set policies on how the data is used. Successful data governance programs can help improve data quality, business decision-making and regulatory compliance in organizations.

According to the global market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC), Chinese companies are speeding up digital transformation amid industrial upgrades, and financial enterprises are pioneers in related practices, as three of the IDC's top seven digital transformation awards this year are from the banking sector.

Digital transformation is an increasingly popular choice for firms and is expanding into corporate culture, customer service and other aspects, said Kitty Fok, IDC China's managing director.