In border villages of Xinjiang, herders have expanded their livestock farming thanks to "Huinong e-Loan," their faces beaming with satisfaction; in Pingtan, Fujian, homestay operators hold loan contracts, envisioning a bright future after their homestays are expanded and upgraded; in Changsha, Hunan, a financial product that quickly responds to the needs of technology companies has given small and micro-enterprise owners facing financial difficulties a sigh of relief... Connecting these vivid scenes of production and life across the country is the Agricultural Bank of China's inclusive financial services, which is also a microcosm of the banking financial institutions' commitment to benefiting small and micro-enterprises.
Industry experts generally believe that financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is crucial for stabilizing the economy, ensuring employment, and stimulating innovation. By alleviating financing difficulties and guiding resources towards the real economy, the resilience and driving force of the market can be enhanced, which is of great significance for promoting high-quality development and social stability.
Since the beginning of this year, banking institutions, represented by the Agricultural Bank of China, have adhered to the political and people-oriented nature of financial work, utilizing policy support from the People's Bank of China and other financial regulatory authorities to continuously deepen inclusive micro and small enterprise (MSE) financial services. They have leveraged digital technology to improve business quality and efficiency, better meeting the diverse financial needs of MSEs and injecting strong momentum into high-quality economic and social development. The latest data released by the People's Bank of China shows that as of the end of November this year, the outstanding balance of inclusive MSE loans reached 35.88 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.4%.
Looking ahead to the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, under the guidance of the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference, banking financial institutions will focus on strengthening support for small and micro enterprises and further improving the quality and efficiency of financial services.
Make good use of policy benefits to support the development of micro and small enterprises.
"The People's Bank of China will increase the relending quota for supporting agriculture and small businesses by 300 billion yuan, which will have a synergistic effect with the policy of lowering the relending interest rate, and support banks in expanding lending to agriculture, small and micro enterprises and private enterprises," Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China, announced at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on May 7.
"Financial regulators guide financial resources to lower levels through targeted tools, and banks need to fulfill their social responsibilities by channeling financial resources into agriculture, rural areas, and small and micro enterprises to serve the overall development of the real economy," Xue Hongyan, vice president of Xingtu Financial Research Institute, told the Financial Times.
In Gansu, relying on the low-cost funds provided by the agricultural and small business support relending program, Lanzhou Bank innovated the "relending + special product" combination model and launched "Lanzhou Bank Huidai," a financial product suitable for individual business owners and micro and small business owners. This product innovation removes financing bottlenecks and helps micro and small business owners and individual business owners solve their financing problems.
It is understood that, with the policy support of the central bank, the loan interest rate of this product is 1.7 percentage points lower than the weighted average interest rate of other micro and small loans of Lanzhou Bank, benefiting many local individual business owners and micro and small business owners.
"The traditional large client business is saturated with competition, while the development needs of agricultural entities and micro and small enterprises in county-level areas continue to be released, constituting the core direction of the bank's incremental market." In Xue Hongyan's view, supporting agriculture and small businesses is the key to building differentiated competitiveness for commercial banks, especially small and medium-sized banks, in the current and future period. By leveraging geographical advantages and customer loyalty, focusing on local niche markets, they can avoid homogeneous competition and create a "small but beautiful" distinctive model. "This is also the core path for them to achieve sustainable development in industry consolidation," Xue Hongyan said.
Continue to deepen the coordination mechanism for micro and small enterprise financing
The mechanism for coordinating financing for micro and small enterprises is considered by the industry to be one of the important measures to support micro and small enterprises.
"CITIC Bank actively practices the political and people-oriented nature of its financial work, and systematically promotes the implementation of its working mechanisms through the 'five specializations and five enhancements' working model, serving the growth and development of more small and micro enterprises and contributing to the high-quality development of the real economy," a CITIC Bank official told the Financial Times.
As its business expanded, a Beijing-based construction company urgently needed substantial funds for project investment and salary payments, leading to a significant increase in its working capital pressure. Upon learning of the company's needs, CITIC Bank's Beijing branch quickly assembled a professional service team. Through its "Order e-Loan" online financing product, leveraging big data models for approval, the bank quickly approved and disbursed a 5 million yuan purely online, unsecured working capital loan to the company.
In May of this year, the State Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau, together with the People's Bank of China and other departments, jointly issued the "Several Measures to Support the Financing of Small and Micro Enterprises". On the basis of deepening and implementing the coordination mechanism for supporting the financing of small and micro enterprises, a series of measures were formulated to solve the financing difficulties of small and micro enterprises (including individual businesses), with particular emphasis on supporting science and technology innovation small and micro enterprises.
Technology empowers and optimizes service quality and efficiency
Recently, several banking institutions, including six major state-owned banks, held a meeting to convey and study the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and to plan and deploy measures for its implementation. Many banks have identified increasing support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as a key focus for next year.
The China Development Bank stated that it will earnestly implement the moderately loose monetary policy and strengthen support for key areas such as expanding domestic demand, technological innovation, and small and micro enterprises. The Agricultural Bank of China stated that it will deepen inclusive financial services for people's livelihoods and further improve the quality and efficiency of green finance and financial services for small and micro enterprises. The Bank of China stated that it will focus on increasing financial support for key areas and weak links such as small and micro enterprises, private enterprises, and agriculture, promoting urban-rural integration and regional cooperation.
Since the beginning of this year, banking financial institutions have been continuously exploring and innovating to improve the quality and efficiency of financial services for small and micro enterprises.
Suzhou Commercial Bank regards financial technology as the key to solving the problem of inclusive finance for micro and small enterprises, and empowers its business development through technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and blockchain.
"At the data level, we integrate information from multiple dimensions, including business registration, taxation, and judicial systems, to create a 360-degree profile of enterprises, effectively addressing the problem of information asymmetry," said a representative from Suzhou Commercial Bank. For example, in the approval process for "Science and Technology Innovation Loans," by analyzing non-financial indicators such as R&D investment, number of patents, and government subsidies, the bank accurately assesses the value of innovative enterprises, increasing the proportion of credit loans by nearly 50%. Furthermore, Suzhou Commercial Bank continuously improves the micro and small enterprise financial service experience through online and automated methods.
