Guangxi Rural Credit Society Becomes 14th Chinese Bank to Establish Fintech Subsidiary

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A rural lender in the south-western province of Guangxi has become the latest banking sector financial institution in China to launch its own fintech subsidiary.

Guangxi Rural Credit Cooperative Association (广西壮族自治区农村信用社联合社) recently announced the founding of Guangxi Guisheng Financial Information Technology Services Co., Ltd. (广西桂盛金融信息科技服务有限公司) as its own fully invested fintech subsidiary.

Data from Qichacha indicates that Guisheng Financial was established on 16 December 2020 with registered capital of 1.2 billion yuan.

Guangxi Rural Credit is a leading provider of financial services to rural communities in Guangxi province. Data from Guangxi Rural Credit indicates that it was responsible for 45.28% of all agricultural loans in Guangxi province in recent years, including 65.09% of loans to rural households, 39.04% of micro and small-enterprise loans and over 99% of poverty alleviation micro-loans.

The move makes Guangxi Rural Credit the 14th banking sector financial institution in China to establish its own fintech subsidiary, following in the wake of Industrial Co., Ltd. and Ping An Bank in 2015, China Merchants Bank and China Everbright Bank in 2016, China Construction Bank, China Minsheng Bank and Huaxia Bank in 2018, and ICBC, Bank of Beijing and Bank of China in 2019.

2020 alone saw the founding of four fintech subsidiaries by Chinese banks, including Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Bank of Langfang and Guangxi Rural Credit.