WeBank joins partnership to aid small businesses
Tencent-backed online lender WeBank Co Ltd announced on Tuesday that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the Shenzhen branch of China Development Bank to support small and micro-sized enterprises.
With a total contract value of 2 billion yuan (US$282 million), the cooperation aims to alleviate financing difficulties and reduce funding costs for around 6,000 small businesses.
To help companies resume production during the COVID-19 pandemic, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission encouraged banks that mainly conduct business online to strengthen funding support for private small and micro enterprises by using their technical capabilities.
Large and medium-sized commercial lenders as well as policy banks are urged to strengthen business cooperation with such digital players.
Last month, the Shenzhen branch of China Development Bank and WeBank reached such an agreement amounting to 400 million yuan.