BEIJING, Jan. 11-- Chinese enterprises with poor environmental records will find it more difficult to obtain bank loans, according to a circular from the People's Bank of China.

China's central bank has collaborated with the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) to include enterprises' environmental records in the bank's nationwide credit database.

"The central bank has ordered commercial banks to review enterprises' environmental records when handling credit business," Su Ning, deputy governor of the central bank, said.

SEPA will send reports to the central bank twice a month based on its monitoring results and information will mainly focus on instances of excessive discharge of industrial waste.

The database, managed by the credit department of the central bank, was set up in January 2006 and stores the credit records of 11.16 million enterprises and 533 million people.

The central bank said it also planned to include data from other ministries into the credit system, including the Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Information Industry and State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision.