A big state-owned bank has integrated with the financial services platform of China’s state procurement authority as part of efforts to drive financial inclusion for small-scale suppliers.
Bank of China (BOC) recently completed systems integration with the financial services platform of the Central Government Procurement Centre (中央国家机关政府采购中心), with a view to “injecting digitisation vitality into relieving the financing difficulties of micro and small enterprises.”
BOC recently became the first bank to enter a strategic cooperative agreement with the centre, outlining the use of big data to drive financial inclusion for MSE’s by helping to resolve information asymmetries.
Following the integration of BOC and the procurement centre’s systems, more than 100,000 qualified MSE suppliers will be able to use the financial services platform to apply for a range of financial services from BOC.
BOC in turn plans to provide MSE suppliers with loans of up to 30 million yuan, based on government procurement contracts and their historical procurement records.
