Chongqing - On June 6, the China Consumer Finance Index (CCFI), the country's first publicly released index measuring the development of the consumer finance sector, was officially launched at the 2025 Consumer Finance Ecosystem Conference, held in Chongqing.

The China Consumer Finance Index was released on June 6 in Chongqing. (Photo/Weijian Yisi)

Compiled by the China Development Institute, the index ranks the top 10 cities in terms of consumer finance development: Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Suzhou, Nanjing, and Jinan. Notably, Chongqing ranked first in institutional strength, surpassing Shanghai and Beijing in this metric.

According to the report, China's consumer finance providers include licensed banks, consumer finance companies, auto finance firms, and regional lenders such as online microloan companies. By the end of 2024, the total outstanding balance of consumer loans had reached 57.98 trillion yuan (about 8.08 trillion USD), with household consumption loans (excluding mortgage loans) totaling 21.01 trillion yuan, representing a 6.2% year-on-year growth.

Currently, China has 31 licensed consumer finance companies, 25 auto finance firms, and around 180 online microloan companies. The combined loan balance of consumer finance companies alone exceeds 1.3 trillion yuan.

Liu Guohong, Vice President of the China Development Institute, noted that Chongqing ranked second nationwide in retail sales in 2024 and rose to first place in Q1 2025, underscoring the city's emergence as a key hub for consumer finance and innovation.

Official data supports this. In Q1 2025, Chongqing's total retail sales reached 420.43 billion yuan, representing a 4.1% year-over-year increase. In contrast, Shanghai reported 405.75 billion yuan, a 1.1% decline.

The city is also advancing in regulatory innovation. A new action plan for financial support to boost consumption, released on June 3 by the Chongqing government, encourages banks to support auto trade-ins with zero-down-payment loans and reduced penalties. Additionally, it expands financial support for green appliances, home upgrades, eldercare, tourism, and nighttime economies to stimulate consumption.

Chongqing's edge also lies in technology. Liu noted that local firms are highly tech-driven, with three consumer finance companies holding 390 invention patents, accounting for over half of China's patents in the sector, and 37 microloan firms claiming two-thirds of the national patents.

One standout player is Mashang Consumer Finance, based in Chongqing. "Our annual transaction volume exceeds 400 billion yuan, backed by 200 million users and a tech team of nearly 3,000 R&D staff out of 4,100 total," said Zhao Guoqing, Chairman of Mashang.

Jiang Ning is the executive general manager of Mashang Consumer Finance. (Photo/Weijian Yisi)

At the conference, Mashang unveiled version 3.0 of Tianjing, which was first launched in 2023 as China's inaugural retail finance foundation big data model. The latest upgrade enhances its ability to process fragmented enterprise data and extract actionable insights.

"Tianjing 3.0 moves beyond models like DeepSeek by learning from discrete, real-world business practices shaped by cause-and-effect logic," said Jiang Ning, executive general manager of Mashang. "It helps distill collective experience into operational intelligence."

Jiang also shared progress on IEEE P3826, the world's first proposed global standard for financial large models, led by Mashang. Approved last year, the standard is set for release by year's end, aiming to combine general Large Language Model (LLM) benchmarks with specific financial sector needs, such as compliance and consumer protection.