Bank of Ningbo unveils sub-branch to support tech start-ups

Bank of Ningbo Co Ltd, a city-based commercial bank headquartered in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, announced on Friday that it has launched a sub-branch to support the development of local technology start-ups and enhance its capability to offer better financial services.

To solve financing difficulties facing small and medium-sized science and technology enterprises caused by the lack of physical assets as collateral, the sub-branch will introduce exclusive products to help them make continuous innovations and upgrade their products, the lender said.

Unlike the traditional way of banks waiting for would-be clients, Bank of Ningbo said that staff at this special outlet will make proactive contact with potential firms that meet their credit granting qualifications. The sub-branch has drawn up a white list of entrepreneurial companies based on criteria such as technology, government policies and capital investment.

Instead of adopting conventional financial indicators such as enterprise revenue and profit as the threshold for extending loans, the new sub-branch will focus more on enterprises’ core technologies while evaluating credit.

Bank of Ningbo noted that in the future the sub-branch will spare no efforts to promote better and more in-depth integration of financial services and science and technological innovations.