People living in nine provincial-level regions, including Beijing and Guangdong, can now look up their personal credit reports using an online inquiry service. This was made available from October 28.

The People's Bank of China, or the central bank, started building its database of credit information in 2006, providing a yardstick for financial institutions to measure an individual's trustworthiness, especially when providing a loan.

According to a blue paper published by China Banking Association, the country's financial institutions issued 330 million credit cards by the end of 2012, with annual trading of 10 trillion yuan ($1.63 trillion).

The database collected information on 820 million individuals, among whom 290 million had personal credit files. The new platform is expected to draw public attention to personal credit records and help make credit management a part of people's daily routine, said Chang Sheng, General Manager of Allwin Credit, a Beijing-based micro-finance service provider.

The system is another form of credit tracking in China and the service will be available to the whole population in the first half of 2014, according to the central bank.