China’s banking regulator has called for lenders to reduce the rates for loans made to farmers and small businesses in flood-affected Henan province, as well as make use of fintech applications to expedite the provision of credit.
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued the “Notice Concerning Supporting Financial Services Work to Support Flood Prevention and Disaster Relief” (关于支持防汛救灾加强金融服务工作的通知) on 22 July.
The issue of the notice arrives after heavy rains inundated the central Chinese province of Henan for nearly a week, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and submerging parts of the subway system of the capital city of Zhengzhou.
The CBIRC Notice calls for banking sector financial institutions to “actively provide lending support, provide preferential review and inspection, simplify review and approval procedures, and raise the efficiency of review and approval” when it comes to people and businesses affected by the flooding in Henan province.
CBIRCalso said that it is “encouraging the use of fintech methods for targeting of groups affected by the disaster,” while also calling for “expansion of the vigour of resources poured into financial inclusion, encouraging appropriate reductions in the rates for loans, reducing or waiving services fees, and making adjustments to repayments of capital and payments of interest to help farmers, micro-and-small businesses and individual industrial and commercial registrants who have been affected by the disaster.”
