The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, jointly with seven other central government bodies including the People's Bank of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, issued a package of measures to improve financing conditions for small and micro enterprises and individual business owners. The document sets out 23 actions across eight areas, centred on expanding credit supply, lowering overall financing costs, speeding up lending processes, strengthening targeting, aligning supervisory incentives, and improving risk management. The measures call for deeper coordination mechanisms for small business financing and more support for priority areas such as foreign trade, private enterprise, technology and consumption, alongside increased provision of first-time lending, unsecured credit loans, medium and long-term loans and lending to private firms. Banks are to strengthen loan interest rate pricing management, reduce ancillary fees by clearing illegal charges and standardising third-party cooperation, and address illegal financial intermediaries. Efficiency initiatives include prudent development of online lending, greater use of technology in credit assessment and fraud controls, streamlined documentation and approvals for offline lending, and appropriate delegation of credit approval authority within larger banks. Targeted support is to be strengthened for specialised and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, technology and innovation-oriented SMEs, and selected individual businesses, alongside a national “one month, one chain” SME financing promotion programme and revisions to SME classification standards. On supervision and risk, the package provides for regular supervisory evaluations of banks’ services to small businesses, stronger application of due diligence exemption frameworks linked to non-performing loan tolerance, and reinforcement of inclusive finance business unit arrangements including performance assessment weightings and preferential internal funds transfer pricing (FTP). Risk management actions include revisions to small business loan risk classification with differentiated standards and simplified methods, allocation of more write-off resources to small business lending, and pilot increases to the ceiling for list-based write-offs of certain unsecured business-purpose credit loans to small business owners and individual entrepreneurs. Departments are to rapidly develop detailed implementing rules within their remits, and banks are to prepare implementation plans to deliver the measures.
China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission 2025-05-21
China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and seven agencies issue 23-point package to support small and micro enterprise financing
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, with seven other central bodies, introduced 23 measures to boost financing for small and micro enterprises and individual business owners. Key initiatives focus on expanding credit supply, reducing financing costs, and improving risk management, emphasizing technology and innovation-oriented SMEs. The package includes supervisory evaluations, due diligence exemptions, and pilot increases for write-offs of unsecured business-purpose credit loans.