China Banking Association Calls for Politicisation of Finance, Greater Support for Rural Village Revival Strategy

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The peak body for the Chinese banking sector has called for greater “politicisation” of financial services, and stronger support for national policies such as the rural village revival strategy.

Liu Feng (刘峰), deputy party secretary of the China Banking Association (CBA), called for “strengthening the politicisation and peopleisation of financial work” in a speech delivered on 3 August, at a summit on financial inclusion held by the 21st Century Financial Research Institute (21世纪金融研究院).

“Finance is the core of the modern economy, and its political position should be elevated,” Liu said. “[We] should pragmatically strengthen politicisation and provide high-quality assistance to the implementation of rural village revival strategies.

“We should enable the waters of finance to fully flow towards the rural villages, engage in targeted irrigation, and effectively implement the natural role and chief purpose of finance in servicing the real economy.”

Liu highlighted the role of Chinese banks in improving financial inclusion for rural communities in China in recent years, at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party and the central government.

“In recent years the national banking sector has strengthened resource allocation, engaged in innovation of financial products, optimised financial services, and continually increased the ability and level of financial support for rural village revival,” he said.

“Servicing the rural village revival strategy has obtained marked results, and the rural village financial services system has continually improved, with marked increases to accessibility, convenience and efficiency.”

As of the end of 2021 the Chinese banking sector’s rural county coverage ratio was 97.13%, while the basic financial services administrative village coverage ratio was 99.97%.

According to Liu this means that rural residents do not need to travel elsewhere to access basic financial services.

At the same time around 65% of rural village households had credit ratings in China, while 40% of them had received credit from financial institutions.