The People's Bank of China (PBOC) released its monetary policy implementation report for the second quarter of 2026 on August 12, featuring a dedicated column that explains the rationale and policy objectives behind establishing the Interbank Market Data Repository (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., referred to as the "Data Repository."
Officially launched in Shanghai on June 16, 2026, the Data Repository was jointly established by seven entities, including the Shanghai Gold Exchange, China Bond Credit Enhancement Co., Ltd., China Foreign Exchange Trade System & National Interbank Funding Center, China Bond Rating Co., Ltd., Shanghai Clearing House, the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors, and Interbank Market Clearing House Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 600 million yuan.
Why was the Data Repository created?
Drawing from international experience, following the global financial crisis, major economies worldwide reached a consensus on collecting comprehensive transaction data, strengthening market surveillance, and preventing illegal activities. Financial regulators subsequently established robust mechanisms for these purposes. After nearly three decades of development, China's interbank market has expanded significantly in scale, diversified its products, and grown increasingly complex in its ecosystem. This has made it necessary to create a specialized institution to comprehensively collect, store, analyze, and manage interbank market data and information.
What specific functions does the Data Repository serve?
According to the PBOC's monetary policy report column, the Data Repository fulfills three key roles. First, it supports monetary policy operations and aids in macroprudential management. Second, it enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of market regulation, thereby increasing market transparency. Third, it drives market and product innovation while supporting a high level of financial opening-up.
As introduced, the Data Repository aggregates full transaction and settlement data across the interbank market, including bonds, money market instruments, derivatives, gold, and commercial paper. This provides a decision-making foundation for comprehensively assessing the transmission effects of monetary policy. "By collecting and systematically analyzing high-frequency transaction data from various interbank financial sub-markets, the Data Repository offers robust support for the market's stable and healthy operation," an industry expert noted.
Specifically, for macro-control authorities, the Data Repository supplies a factual basis for evaluating monetary policy transmission, thereby improving the effectiveness of macroprudential management. For market regulators, it centralizes financial market data and standardizes data formats, linking the data chain across issuance, trading, custody, and settlement. This helps eliminate regulatory blind spots caused by fragmented data, effectively curbing market misconduct and illegal activities. For market participants, it reduces information asymmetry, helping to avoid the herd mentality that leads to irrational following and excessive speculation.
Furthermore, by aligning with international standards and practices, the Data Repository can assist both domestic and foreign institutions in better understanding the market, thereby supporting a high level of financial opening-up. The PBOC stated that moving forward, it will focus on strengthening the Data Repository's organizational structure and improving its rules and regulations. It will also support the Data Repository in identifying market violations and systemic risks, aiming to provide high-standard, high-quality financial data services that better serve macroprudential management and financial market regulation, ultimately contributing to the stable, safe, and high-quality development of financial markets.