Tighter controls ahead for foreign IT providers in China?

BEIJING - Reports within the Chinese media say that the China Banking Regulatory Commission is conducting “full-scale research” focussing on information security conditions across Chinese banks and financial institutions, involving IT hardware, software and services, believing the Government should have control over the technology used in financial organisations.

Industry sources say the CBRC will also be checking the “actual use of domestic software by lenders while assessing the safety of banks’ information networks”.  This spells tighter controls over IT products within the financial sector, which in turn could likely lead to more obstacles for overseas IT providers in China like IBM, EMC, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.

A number of products supplied in China by foreign IT providers have been banned from Government procurement projects due to security concerns – an example is Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 operating system. Chinese vendors are aggressively moving in to take their place: Domestic IT companies ZTE Corp (Shenzhen) and Inspur Group Ltd (Jinan, Shandong province) have announced breakthroughs in self-developed IT products that can be used in critical industries, including banking. www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).