Financial services at your fingertips—"Loan" to drive business growth

In Hunan’s Chenzhou, rich in non-ferrous metal resources and vibrant in its open economy, private micro and small enterprises are bursting with vitality, driving the city towards “new” and “green” development. During the process of industrial transformation and upgrading, breaking through the bottlenecks faced by private micro and small enterprises, such as “lack of collateral, difficulty in financing, and difficulty in renewing loans,” has become an important topic for the local financial industry.

Recently, reporters from the China Banking and Insurance News learned from the Chenzhou Financial Supervision Bureau that the bureau is actively constructing a multi-dimensional coordination mechanism to support micro and small enterprise financing, characterized by “vertical integration, horizontal linkage, and internal and external collaboration,” focusing on unblocking policy implementation obstacles and building an efficient “bridge” between banks and enterprises. By the end of 2025, this mechanism had conducted visits to 303,900 micro and small enterprises, granting credit of 17.116 billion yuan to 11,700 enterprises on the list, effectively enhancing the accuracy and effectiveness of financial services for the real economy.

Strengthening Precise Connections to Unblock the “Coordination Chain” between Banks and Enterprises

From weaving a dense service guarantee network to guiding banks to enhance their credit issuance capabilities, a series of measures have brought finance closer to enterprises.

It is understood that to bridge the “last mile” of policy implementation, the Chenzhou Financial Supervision Bureau has collaborated with the Municipal Development and Reform Commission to guide the establishment of working groups in 11 counties and districts, ensuring that personnel, responsibilities, and measures are in place. A business guidance team has been formed to provide on-site coaching to branch offices, conducting comprehensive training for staff to address business difficulties encountered during list reviews and bank-enterprise connections, ensuring that work standards are unified and standardized.

Banking institutions are the direct entities serving micro and small enterprises. According to reports, the Chenzhou Financial Supervision Bureau has taken multiple measures to guide banks in enhancing their willingness and capability to serve. On one hand, it guides banking institutions to scientifically and reasonably formulate inclusive credit plans for micro and small enterprises. On the other hand, it instructs banking institutions to establish internal special working mechanisms, optimize credit approval processes, open “green channels” for micro and small enterprise financing, and innovate exclusive credit products for these enterprises. Additionally, banks are encouraged to establish and dynamically update two lists for inclusive credit service approvals and due diligence exemptions, eliminating the “worries” of grassroots credit staff.

“Through the bank-enterprise connection platform established by the government, we have achieved ‘zero-distance’ contact with more micro and small enterprises, effectively promoting the upgrade of financial services,” said a business manager from the Agricultural Bank of China’s Chenzhou branch. As of the end of 2025, the Agricultural Bank of China’s branches in Chenzhou had conducted visits to 1,210 micro and small enterprises through the implementation of the “Thousand Enterprises, Ten Thousand Households” outreach initiative, completing credit grants of 14.997 billion yuan and disbursing loans of 5 billion yuan.

Smart Use of Credit Data to Bridge the “Last Mile” of Financing

In practice, many micro and small enterprises lack fixed assets for collateral, making credit approval challenging, which is a common issue reported by banks.

“Deposits, transaction flows, and POS machine data are all ‘treasures’,” said a business manager from the China Construction Bank’s Chenzhou branch. In response to the aforementioned pain points, the bank has innovatively launched a personal business credit quick loan, allowing all daily operational data of enterprises to become “capital for accumulating credit limits,” which can be converted into “available funds” for immediate use.

“The process was so simple that the funds were credited in less than half an hour, truly solving my urgent need,” said Mr. Wang, the head of a trading company in Chenzhou who obtained a loan of 1.02 million yuan through the Construction Bank’s “Hui Dong Ni” app. Mr. Wang runs a trading company and faced a cash flow dilemma due to the need for large-scale procurement as his business expanded. A customer manager from the Chenzhou Xiangxue Road branch of the Construction Bank learned during a visit that the client was an acquiring merchant for the bank and frequently used the bank’s merchant collection code, so he recommended the bank’s “Merchant Cloud Loan,” which allowed for online application and flexible repayment, efficiently meeting the enterprise’s financing needs.

Utilizing tax data can more accurately outline the credit status of enterprises. Yongxing Rural Commercial Bank, in collaboration with the tax authorities, developed a pure credit “Tax Bank Loan” product, transforming the enterprise’s tax credit rating and tax amounts into financing credit, without the need for collateral or guarantees, with a maximum credit limit of 50 million yuan, precisely matching the funding needs of micro and small enterprises. Meanwhile, a dual-driven risk control system combining “traditional risk control + big data” has been established, incorporating external data from industry and commerce, taxation, justice, and electricity, allowing non-financial indicators such as tax records and performance to be included in the evaluation system, replacing traditional collateral requirements and further enhancing the compatibility between financial services and enterprise needs.

Loan “Renewal Upon Maturity” to Eliminate Development “Concerns”

The no-principal renewal policy allows enterprises to renew loans directly without repaying the principal, effectively avoiding the financial stress or even breakage caused by “reverse lending,” bringing tangible benefits to micro and small enterprises. Relying on the mechanism supporting micro and small enterprise financing coordination, multiple banks have achieved “renewal upon maturity” for enterprise loans.

Weiqiang Technology Co., Ltd., a specialized and innovative small and medium-sized enterprise located in the non-ferrous metal industrial park of Bailutang in Chenzhou’s Suxian District, faced a short-term liquidity gap during the procurement of raw materials. As the company’s 2.25 million yuan credit loan from the Agricultural Bank was about to mature, the enterprise head, Qing Xianjian, was worried. The Agricultural Bank of China’s Chenzhou branch quickly responded and actively served by processing a no-principal renewal loan, successfully extending the loan period by one year. “The entire process from document review to loan renewal was completed in just half a day. This funding has laid a solid foundation for the further growth of the enterprise,” said Qing Xianjian.

In Chenzhou’s Guilin County, when the micro enterprise Shizikou Ceramic Co., Ltd. applied for its second loan renewal at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s Chenzhou branch, a legal representative’s litigation issue triggered a system alert, causing the online renewal process to fail. The customer manager from the ICBC Guilin branch immediately visited the enterprise to verify its operational status, confirming that its repayment capacity was not adversely affected. Through timely responses and flexible operations, the bank effectively resolved this “renewal crisis” for the enterprise and avoided the adverse impact of loan discontinuation on its operations.

“This initiative not only enhances the inclusiveness and timeliness of financial services but also increases enterprises’ trust in financial institutions,” said a business manager from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s Chenzhou branch.

The reporter learned that the Chenzhou Financial Supervision Bureau will continue to deepen coordination and collaboration with all parties, continuously optimize the financial service ecosystem for micro and small enterprises, and contribute more financial strength to the robust growth of micro and small enterprises and the high-quality development of the economy and society.

China Banking and Insurance News reporter Xu Yupeng

China Banking and Insurance News editor Li Mengxi