Skip to main content

This article is part of our registry spotlight series, where we look closely at each of the national registries accessible via our platform and single API. To view the full list of available articles, click here.

Anyone tasked with performing Know Your Business (KYB) checks on corporate customers will know this… identifying a company through official government sources and mapping its shareholding structure is one of the most essential and time-consuming steps of the process.

Knowing what information is available in a specific registry, how to access it and how to use it for compliance purposes is key to accelerate and streamline KYB operations at regulated organisations.

Following our recent coverage expansion, we have launched the present blog series to provide useful information on each of the global registries now available through our solution.

After Hong Kong and Ireland, let’s take a look at China.

What’s the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System?

The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System is a Chinese governmental agency that provides information about companies to the public.

The system, launched in February 2014, is run by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) of China.

The information contained in this system comes from government departments and market entities, including all local Industrial and Commercial Administrations in China. The companies themselves – including enterprises of different sizes, farmers and professional cooperatives, and individual industrial and commercial entities across the country – are responsible for the authenticity and legality of the information they disclose.

What information is available through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System?

As of July 2022, there are roughly 154,000,000 registered companies in the system. The number of new companies incorporated in 2022 alone is 15,710,000.

Since 2013, an average of more than 10 million new entities has been added to the registry every year.

As soon as an entity registration has been completed or the information has been filed with the relevant provincial industry and commerce authorities, details on that entity are published in the system in real-time.

Available information includes:

  • Company registration information: registered capital, address, legal person
  • Investor information
  • Company changes information
  • Filing records of key personnel and branch information
  • Public announcements
  • Administrative penalty information
  • Records of penalties by Industrial and Commercial Departments
  • List of abnormal business operations
  • Public information submitted by entities in accordance with regulations: Annual return, Licensed information

How do you access National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System?

The System is publicly accessible online at the following address: https://www.gsxt.gov.cn/index.html

On 26 November 2021, the System officially launched a real-name authentication requirement for all queries.  Once authenticated, users can submit enquiries by either entering:

  • A company registration number
  • A company’s full name for precise queries
  • A company name keyword for fuzzy queries
  • Unified social credit number of a legal person

How Know Your Customer can help

In a country like China where, as we have seen, millions of new companies are registered every year, it is essential to access the most up-to-date information when performing KYB checks. In these instances, databases of static information will not provide the required coverage.

Hence, when doing business with companies from China, the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System can be a great help. It represents an official source of information updated in real-time, giving compliance teams peace of mind about their potential partners, suppliers or clients.

Yet, for foreign businesses, it might not be easy to navigate the Chinese-language platform and go through the various authentication steps to source the required information.

To help regulated businesses overcome the challenges of cross-border KYB compliance, we simplify and streamline registry access globally.

With Know Your Customer, not only users can access 500+ official registries via one single platform or API, but the information retrieved is automatically transliterated and standardised to break down shareholder and beneficial owner information in an easy-to-navigate way.

Curious to find out more?

Request a Demo

Last updated on May 22nd, 2023 at 12:47 am

Maggie Maspero

Margherita Maspero is a marketing expert with ten years of experience in marketing strategy and brand development at international RegTech companies across Europe and Asia. Prior to joining Know Your Customer, Margherita held various positions building brands and driving commercial growth through effective marketing strategies at fast-growing B2B start-ups and scale-ups in London, Dublin and Milan. A graduate of the University of Milan, Margherita holds a Master’s from University College London (UCL).