Rural banks join hands to boost financial inclusion in Yangtze River Delta area

The Shanghai Rural and Commercial Bank has linked with 21 rural lenders as well as three agricultural cooperative credit societies from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, to boost financial inclusion and lend more support to the economy of the Yangtze River Delta area.

The institutions issued a declaration that they will seek to build a cooperation mechanism and platform, enhance resources sharing and promote their business development in the area.

Also, three committees were established to strengthen collaboration among the smaller lenders in corporate banking, financial markets and trade finance segments. 

They are also responsible for improving the availability of credit to small, medium and micro enterprises, boosting the transformation and upgrading of private firms in the region and promoting cooperation in businesses such as international settlements.

SRCB, which was incorporated in 2005 as the country’s first joint-stock commercial bank restructured from a provincial rural credit cooperative, has been a pioneer in serving agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

As of the end of June, it has worked with eight rural banks in nearby provinces in the foreign currency business, the bank said.

While focusing on the Shanghai market, the rural bank has extended its influence to surrounding areas. 

It now has sub-branches in Jiashan County of Zhejiang Province and the city of Kunshan in Jiangsu Province. 

These have lent great support to local economic development with their diversified and high-quality banking solutions.

In May, SRCB signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Jiashan government, aiming to offer a total of 10 billion yuan (US$1.44 billion) of funding to the local economy within the next three years.

The Yangtze River Delta is one of the major engines of China’s economy and an important international gateway, said Zhang Zhongwei, deputy director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission.

In 2018, the region generated 23.5 percent of national GDP and 40 percent of the country’s cargo throughput at ports.

The integrated development of the region has been elevated to a national strategy, as announced by President Xi Jinping at the opening ceremony of the first China International Import Expo in last November.

To spur the project, authorities from Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui agreed to a three-year action plan (2018-2020), which includes nearly a dozen collaborative projects to increase the region’s competitiveness on a global scale.