A view of the PBC's headquarters in Beijing Photo: cnsphoto

Pengyuan Credit Services Co, a credit rating business in China, was fined 19,795,499.29 yuan ($3.03 million) by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, on Wednesday. The nearly 20 million yuan fine is the largest fine ever imposed by regulators on a credit rating service in the country.

The illegal activities of Pengyuan Credit Services include illegal engaging in personal credit business without authorization and not reporting to regulators alternations in the company's senior management team. 

According to the official website of Pengyuan Credit Services Co, the company was founded in 2005 and was set up as one of the 26 credit system trial companies by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2018. 

According to media reports, only one personal credit business license was issued to Baihang Credit, which means that Pengyuan Credit Services Co had no qualification to conduct personal credit business.