BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- China's banking institutions should include data management in their corporate governance framework and improve data quality, the country's banking regulator said Friday.

"Banking institutions are encouraged to establish mechanisms to foster better data governance and set up positions such as chief data officer," according to a draft of guidelines on data governance released by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

"In the past years, banking institutions have accumulated massive amount of client and trade data, which have become important assets and the core competence of banks," the CBRC said in an online statement.

The guidelines require banks to improve the authenticity, accuracy, timeliness and integrity of data, and protect the privacy of clients through enhanced data security measures.

The public have until April 16 to provide opinions on the draft.