China's National Financial Regulatory Administration, together with the National Intellectual Property Administration and the National Copyright Administration, has issued a work plan to run a comprehensive pilot of an intellectual property finance ecosystem in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Sichuan, Shenzhen and Ningbo. The pilot targets practical bottlenecks in using intellectual property as collateral and sets out measures across registration, valuation, disposal and risk-sharing arrangements. The authorities reported rapid growth in intellectual property pledge lending in 2024, with banking institutions extending CNY 255.57bn of such loans, up 33.4% year on year, to 26,545 borrowers, up 23.4%. The plan supports setting up trademark and copyright pledge registration service windows or agent points in pilot areas, creating a green channel for copyright pledge registrations, and accelerating an online copyright pledge registration platform. For valuation, banks are encouraged to use internal valuation or bank-enterprise negotiation for single loans below CNY 10m, with government departments providing supporting data, models and system tools and some areas exploring overall intellectual property assessment as an alternative to value appraisal. Service measures include guiding financial institutions to establish business rules and management systems for intellectual property finance, encouraging longer loan tenors and a higher share of medium and long-term lending, expanding pledgeable rights to include plant and animal new variety rights, geographical indications and data rights, and providing a green channel for transfers of intellectual property pledge loans through the banking credit asset registration and transfer center with fee waivers for three years. To address disposal challenges, the plan calls for improving intellectual property trading mechanisms and specialised disposal platforms and explores requiring enterprises to prepay patent annuities during the pledge period to avoid rights lapsing. Next steps include guiding pilot regions to refine local implementation measures, strengthening coordination, conducting regular exchanges and case promotion, reporting progress, and gradually replicating and scaling the approach once experience and workable solutions are established.
China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission 2025-03-05
China's National Financial Regulatory Administration launches intellectual property finance ecosystem pilot across eight regions
China's National Financial Regulatory Administration, with other agencies, launched a pilot to enhance the intellectual property finance ecosystem in key regions. It addresses challenges in using intellectual property as collateral, focusing on registration, valuation, disposal, and risk-sharing. The plan includes expanding pledgeable rights, improving trading mechanisms, and establishing supportive infrastructure to scale successful practices nationwide.