Credit checks tightened on corporate bond market

China is to tighten credit checks on corporate bond financing, a notice released by the nation's top economic planning body said on Monday.

The National Development and Reform Commission said that economic planning bodies of all provincial levels should obtain credit checks on all potential bond holders before processing bond applications in future.

The credit examination should avoid interference from the enterprise or the lead underwriter involved.

China's bond market is divided into three parts: debt instruments in the interbank market overseen by the central bank, enterprise bonds by NDRC, and a small listed corporate bond market overseen by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Chinabond data shows that new issuance of corporate bonds were worth 34.9 billion yuan ($69 billion) by September this year, already surpassing the target of 248.5 billion yuan for 2012.

The bond market is still underdeveloped in China, despite being the world's second biggest economy after the US. Its total bond balance, at 22.1 trillion yuan at the end of 2011, is only a tenth of the $36 trillion in the US.