Over the last few years, I’ve heard many complaints about the lack of reliable information on companies around the world.  However, I’ve heard one complaint more than any other: “There just isn’t good information on the financial health of Chinese companies.”

Today, I’m pleased to announce that Panjiva is tackling this problem head on, by providing access to information on the financial health of 8 million Chinese companies.

How are we doing this?  Via an exclusive deal with Sinosure.  Let me explain…

For the last few years, we’ve been looking for credible information on the financial health of Chinese companies.  To be sure, there are lots of organizations offering information on Chinese companies — but credible information on financial health?  Tough to find.

About a year ago, we met Sinosure.  Sinosure is the organization that was originally set up by the Chinese government to provide export insurance to Chinese companies.  In order to correctly price this insurance, Sinosure had to develop an approach to assessing the financial health of exporters — and get access to the information needed to fuel these assessments.  Which brings me to why we concluded that Sinosure can provide the best possible perspective on the financial health of Chinese exporters:

1. Access to the most information — By virtue of their government ties, Sinosure has access to an unbelievable array of data sources, providing Sinosure with a variety of data points on any individual company.
2. Reliance on their analysis for decision-making — At Panjiva, we’re by nature skeptical of data sources — because every data source has a bias.  Interestingly, that’s what makes Sinosure so compelling.   Their bias is to get the analysis right.  After all, if they get the analysis wrong, they’re going to price insurance incorrectly and lose money.  At which point, the Chinese government loses money.

Is Sinosure data perfect?  Of course not.  No data set is.  That’s why we advocate looking at multiple data sets anytime you’ve got an important decision to make.  My next post will walk you through how Panjiva‘s making this kind of triangulation as easy as possible.

In the meantime, I want to welcome Sinosure to Panjiva‘s extended family.  In the months ahead, our U.S. customers will be able to get access to Sinosure reports on any Chinese manufacturer — only through Panjiva.