Chinesepod - China further boosts financial services in rural areas

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BIZCHINA / News

China further boosts financial services in rural areas

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-07 16:59

The?banking regulators on Monday further eased market access for banks to
rural areas and removed some obstacles to the development of rural
financial services, in a move to promote the rural development.

All banking institutions are allowed access to rural areas, according to
a new guideline, published on the website of the China Banking Regulatory
Commission (CBRC), that aims to provide more sophisticated and tailored
loan services for rural communities and businesses.

Six provincial areas had previously been included in a pilot program to
allow foreign and domestic banking capital to invest in, or to purchase
or establish banking institutions in rural areas, according to an earlier
guideline issued at the end of 2006.

The new guideline directs loans to the agricultural production sector,
and sectors such as the processing of farm produce and transportation in
a bid to support the industrial development in rural areas.

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It encourages loans to farmers to buy expensive durable consumer
products, to finance the building or purchase of homes, to cover medicare
costs as well as school tuition for the children of farmers, loans that
in the past farmers found difficult to obtain.

The CBRC raised the maximum for micro loans offered to rural people and
industry in developed areas to 100,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan, and 10,000
to 50,000 yuan for those in underdeveloped areas.

The commission also said the terms of village loans could be flexible,
adding the term for the payment of loans could be fixed according to the
cycle of agricultural production.

It again called on the financial institutions in rural areas to simplify
the loan application procedures for farmers and rural industry.

The government pledged to accelerate financial reform in rural areas in
its annual report made in March.

After the government lowered the working capital limits for domestic
financial institutions to establish branches in rural areas to three
million yuan (US$384,615) for banks in counties and one million yuan in
villages and towns in terms of registered capital, a couple of village
banks had been established in pilot areas this year.

The Postal Savings Bank, which started operation on March 20 as the
country's fifth state-owned bank, was expected to give a lift to credit
services in rural areas, as 60 percent of its outlets were in rural areas.

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