China is pushing for the delegation of regulatory authority over rural credit societies from province-level governments to those at the municipal level.
On 15 February the Guangdong-province city of Dongguan announced that it had obtained approval from the province-level government to assume regulatory authority over two rural lenders – Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank (东莞农商银行) and Guangdong Puning Rural Village Commercial Bank (广东普宁农村商业银行股份有限公司).
The two rural lenders previously came under the authority of the Guangdong Province Rural Credit Union (广东省农信联社).
The following day Dongguan Rural Commercial issued a public announcement stating that the move would be of benefit to it further establishing itself within the local Dongguan market, and better servicing the development of the regional economy.
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) announced in January at its 2022 work meeting that it would accelerate reform of rural credit societies in China, implementing a policy of “a strategy for each province” (一省一策).
The provinces of Zhejiang and Guangdong are the first to implement the reform policy, with domestic observers saying it will be gradually introduced to other parts of the country subsequently.
