Shame on you! China uses public billboards to expose runaway debtors

Above throngs of busy commuters at a Shanghai railway station, four large billboards - some sandwiched between screens flashing train times - were lit up with the name of the head of a mid-sized industrial products maker. But he was not promoting his company or its goods.

The Shanghai Railway Transportation Court put his name in lights earlier this month because his company failed to pay a 2.9 million yuan ($432,945) debt. A separate court in the eastern Zhejiang province issued a freezing order over his company’s assets two years ago for money owed to China Construction Bank.

As growth slows, struggling borrowers are finding it harder to repay their loans, pushing China banks' official soured debt above $299 billion at the end of May, though analysts say they estimate the true level is much higher.

To fight this rising tide, Chinese courts have ramped up their use of shaming tactics, underlining the failure of other methods of making debtors pay.

Zhou Qiang, president of China's Supreme People's Court, declared in March that debt avoidance was a major problem and he said the court would give those who tried to avoid judgments against them "nowhere to hide," according to a newspaper produced by the court, China's highest. It would do that by collecting information on absconding debtors, holding press conferences to gain publicity, and restricting access to credit among other methods, he said.

For 10 days ending last Friday, the names, ID numbers, addresses, case numbers and amounts owed by 20 people, either individual debtors or the heads of companies, were flashed across screens at the two main Shanghai railway stations at 10 minute intervals. In some cases there were also photos of the miscreants. The debtors displayed on the board sometimes owe modest amounts, with one shamed for failing to pay just 1,984.1 yuan.

"It is an important initiative to deter dishonest debtors", said the Shanghai Railway Transport Court in a press release sent to Reuters.

Some of the people featured have changed their phone numbers, addresses and disappeared, said the release, adding that the public can call in with clues to help the authorities track down the runaway debtors. Normal methods of enforcement in China include the freezing and forced sale of assets, among other measures. They are not working.

"There are too many cases, too few judges, each judge has to handle lots of cases in a year," said Wu Zhendong, a financial services lawyer from King & Wood Mallesons, explaining why enforcing debt judgments are so tough.

A decree issued by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce at the end of last year set out the circumstances under which a company can be publicly shamed. The decree expands upon 2013 Chinese Supreme Court rules that say dishonest debtors' details can be published in newspapers, on the radio, television and the internet.

LACK OF PUBLIC RESPONSE

While courts outside China's financial hub have adopted this tactic before, the judiciary in Shanghai has only this year taken to shaming with gusto. It doesn't always resonate with the public.