Shandong-province municipal lender Bank of Qingdao has highlighted innovations in the field of supply chain finance as part of efforts to improve financial inclusion for regional enterprises.
Bank of Qingdao said that in 2022 it has “continually innovated supply chain finance products and models, resolved the financing difficulties of real enterprises, as well as driven the digitisation of supply chain financial services.”
“[We] have used supply chain finance as a linkage for helping to protect, stabilise and strengthen [industry] chains and support the growth of the real economy,” the bank said, with reference to the challenges created by Covid-related restrictions.
In 2021 Bank of Qingdao launched its “Digital Supply Chain Financial Services Platform” (数字供应链金融服务平台), which the lender said has provided funding support to over 1,500 financial inclusion clients.
Bank of Qingdao’s efforts to improve financial inclusion and supply chain financial services arrive in response to mandates issued by the regional authorities of both Shandong province and Qingdao municipality since the start of the Covid pandemic.
These include the “Guidance Opinions on Driving Supply Chain Finance to Service the Real Economy” (关于推动供应链金融服务实体经济的指导意见) and the “People’s Bank of China Qingdao Municipal Centre Notice on Undertaking Specialist Activities to Stabilise and Protect Industry Chains” (中国人民银行青岛市中心支行关于开展“稳链保供”专项行动的通知).
