Source: Economic Daily
Inclusive credit has become an important growth business for listed banks' financial reports. Recently, a number of listed banks have released performance reports showing that inclusive credit continues to maintain incremental expansion and quality improvement. Specifically, whether it is the growth target of inclusive agriculture-related loans, inclusive small and micro enterprise loans, or serving more long-tail business entities, commercial banks are actively disclosing service prices, smoothing financing blockages, providing appropriate and effective financial services, and the coverage of inclusive credit services has been expanding.
Increase the supply of inclusive credit
The supply of high-quality inclusive credit by large banks is not only the epitome of the "five major articles" such as inclusive finance, but also an important force in promoting economic development.
Up to now, the 2023 performance reports of six large state-owned banks, including ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank, have been disclosed. Overall, the six large state-owned banks have increased, expanded and improved the quality of inclusive credit. For example, the balance of loans in the field of inclusive finance of the People's Bank of China reached 3.5 trillion yuan at the end of 2023, with a growth rate of 37%. The balance of inclusive financial loans of CCB was 3.04 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of 29.40%. The balance of inclusive loans of ICBC reached 2.2 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of nearly 44%. Overall, compared with 2022, the coverage of inclusive credit provided by many state-owned banks has continued to extend and the supply has continued to increase.
Joint-stock commercial banks have achieved remarkable results in making inclusive credit. China CITIC Bank accurately supported key areas of the real economy, and the balance of inclusive loans in 2023 was 545.076 billion yuan, an increase of 22.22% from the end of the previous year. In 2023, the balance of inclusive small and micro enterprise loans of CEB was RMB379.133 billion, an increase of 24.18% from the end of 2022. In addition, joint-stock commercial banks such as China Merchants Bank and Bank of Communications have accurately supported the real economy and steadily improved the quality and efficiency of inclusive financial business development.
Ye Yindan, a researcher at the Bank of China Research Institute, said that since last year, inclusive finance in mainland China has developed rapidly, and major breakthroughs have been made in terms of total volume, structure and coverage, and the development results of inclusive credit have been basically shared by multiple customer groups. At the same time, in terms of business model, large banks have made remarkable achievements in promoting the inclusive model on a large scale across the country by taking advantage of their comparative advantages, improving the quality of development in key areas, and gradually achieving differentiated development.
Vigorously developing inclusive finance is an inevitable requirement for the high-quality development of the mainland's economy, which is conducive to promoting the sustainable and balanced development of the financial industry. Experts said that for commercial banks, the development of inclusive credit is not only the result of the promotion of policies and regulatory departments, but also the inevitable choice of their own business transformation and sustainable development.
The person in charge of the Inclusive Finance Department of CCB said that the original intention and responsibility of inclusive finance is to provide appropriate and effective financial services for all social strata and groups with financial service needs, especially long-tail business entities, at an affordable cost, so that financial resources can benefit the people more extensively, deeply and fairly, so as to promote the prosperity and development of the economy and society as a whole.
Precise empowerment of key areas
At the 2024 work conference, the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration emphasized that it is necessary to coordinate the "five major articles" to better serve the development of new productive forces and the construction of a modern industrial system, and continue to enhance the ability of inclusive financial services.
A number of commercial banks disclosed in their performance reports that they have refined inclusive credit services from different aspects. The Postal Savings Bank has established and improved the establishment of institutions to serve rural revitalization, and built a rural revitalization service system with postal and banking coordination, total score linkage, and mother-child cooperation. Bank of China continues to improve the level of financial services for small and micro enterprises and improve the accuracy of services in key areas. Bank of Communications has built a unified brand of inclusive finance and rural revitalization, and realized the two-wheel drive of online standardized products and scenario-customized products.
Experts said that the development of inclusive finance business still faces problems such as difficulty in obtaining information, high service costs, and diseconomies of scale, especially the asymmetry of information between banks and enterprises, which leads to credit resources not fully reaching users. Therefore, while doing a good job in credit services for traditional industries, commercial banks should also combine the characteristics of the county economy, unite with relevant government departments and other forces to promote the sinking of inclusive finance and contribute financial strength to the development of county industries.
Build a financing bridge between banks and enterprises, and accelerate the promotion of inclusive small and micro loans. "With the help of the Department of Science and Technology Finance of Liaocheng High-tech Zone, we have successfully realized the docking of banks and enterprises, and the loan of 8 million yuan issued by Liaocheng Branch of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank has provided financial guarantee for enterprises to expand production capacity. A few days ago, Zhou Hang, chairman of Shandong Keer Automation Instrument Co., Ltd., said. In recent years, the local government has invited financial institutions to explain financial policies to enterprises, check the pulse and solve the financing problems of enterprises. Liu Qinglei, Minister of Science and Technology Finance of Liaocheng High-tech Zone, Shandong Province, said that by building a bank-enterprise docking platform, the efficient matching of inclusive credit supply and corporate financing needs will be fully realized, so as to make inclusive financial services more accurate.
It is worth noting that deepening inclusive services for small and micro enterprises and agriculture-related business entities is one of the key goals of this year's inclusive credit. The Notice on Doing a Good Job in Inclusive Credit in 2024 recently issued by the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration clarifies the overall goal of inclusive credit in 2024, that is, to ensure quantity, stabilize prices, and optimize structure, and further promote banking financial institutions to continuously meet the needs of inclusive credit in key areas.
Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of Zhaolian, said that the combination of quantity and price and optimization of the structure are generally more reasonable and pragmatic. In terms of guaranteeing quantity, the growth rate of inclusive small and micro enterprise loans is required not to be lower than the growth rate of various loans, among which large commercial banks and joint-stock banks should strive to achieve regulatory targets throughout the year. In terms of price stabilization, when the loan interest rate is already at a historical low, it is required to reasonably determine the level of inclusive credit interest rate according to the LPR, and there is no clear request to reduce the loan interest rate. These requirements are conducive to maintaining a healthy competition pattern in the inclusive credit market.
In recent years, the State Administration of Financial Supervision has made concerted efforts to promote banking financial institutions to deepen inclusive services for small and micro enterprises, agriculture-related business entities and key assistance groups and other important areas, so as to better meet the inclusive credit needs of various business entities. According to the data, as of the end of 2023, the balance of inclusive small and micro enterprise loans was 29.06 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.27%, 13.13 percentage points higher than the growth rate of various loans. The balance of inclusive agriculture-related loans was 12.59 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.34%, 10.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of various loans.
Dong Ximiao said that under the circumstance that the total amount of inclusive credit is large and the rapid growth year after year, doing a good job in inclusive credit services in key areas is the focus of this year's work, which is conducive to empowering all kinds of business entities with more inclusive credit resources, continuously improving the coverage and availability of credit services, and realizing the sustainable development of inclusive financial business. To this end, financial institutions should actively use financial technology to empower them, increase the allocation of first loans, renewal loans, credit loans, etc., and promote inclusive credit from increasing volume, expanding coverage, and reducing prices to structural optimization, quality and efficiency improvement, and move towards a new stage of high-quality development.
Digital inclusion improves quality and efficiency
If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools. The organic combination of digitalization and inclusive finance is a powerful starting point for commercial banks to promote business transformation and upgrading, and then fully reach customers. The "Specification for the Digital Model of Inclusive Financial Business in the Banking Industry" issued by the People's Bank of China last year is of great significance for promoting the high-quality development of inclusive financial business in the era of digital economy.
"Traditional financial services are often limited by geography and time, but digital inclusive credit breaks these limitations. Customers can access financial services anytime and anywhere through mobile phones and other terminal devices, without having to go to a financial institution. Mo Xiugen, deputy dean of the China Institute of Inclusive Finance at Chinese University, said that digitalization has lowered the service cost and threshold of inclusive credit, improved service efficiency and convenience, and provided high-quality financial services for more people.
Digital inclusion is a breakthrough for many listed banks to deepen their efforts to deepen inclusive finance. Since the comprehensive launch of the inclusive finance strategy in May 2018, CCB has explored and established an inclusive financial service system with data as the key production factor, science and technology as the core production tool, and platform ecology as the main mode of production. Focus on the needs of individual industrial and commercial households, agriculture-related customers, and small and medium-sized enterprises in science and technology, and provide inclusive financial support for long-tail business entities.
Small and medium-sized banks should enhance their digital operation capabilities and optimize their credit approval models. The relevant person in charge of Wuyi Rural Commercial Bank under the jurisdiction of Zhejiang Rural Commercial Bank said that the bank relies on digital reform to actively expand the depth and breadth of government-bank cooperation and accelerate the improvement of the effectiveness of inclusive finance. Through the application management system of farmers' household balance sheets, a credit loan evaluation model for rural households is built to effectively solve the financing blockages of rural households.
"The introduction of digital technology by banking institutions to optimize the loan approval process not only saves time and costs, but also reduces errors and delays caused by human intervention, and improves the user experience. Chen Liang, a senior analyst at Tianyancha Data Research Institute, said that banking institutions can establish accurate credit portraits by analyzing massive user data, including personal and corporate property clues, loan records, etc., thereby helping to reduce their dependence on traditional mortgage guarantees.
Next, whether it is a large commercial bank, a joint-stock bank, or a small and medium-sized bank, it is important to improve the quality and efficiency of financial services through digital means. Ye Yindan said that banking institutions should combine digital technology to innovate financial products and launch personalized products for different groups. For example, we have launched credit loan products without collateral for small and micro enterprises or rural households that lack credit history, and customized services for special groups such as the elderly.
Preventing credit risk is an important guarantee for digital inclusion. Ye Yindan said that commercial banks should establish an intelligent risk control system to effectively identify potential risks and take corresponding measures to prevent and manage them. The intelligent risk control system can help financial institutions better manage credit risks and continuously improve the level of inclusive credit services. (Economic Daily reporter Wang Baohui)