The Chinese central bank is leading a campaign to improve financial inclusion for rural communities in the vast inland province of Sichuan.
In July, the Chengdu branch of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) teamed up with Sichuan province authorities to launch the “Scan and Enter, One Button Loan” (送码入户、一键贷款) campaign, for the purpose of driving the development of financial services for rural villages throughout the province.
According to state-owned media, the campaign seeks to make quick and efficient financial services available to rural households and businesses in Sichuan province via the use of QR code technology. Rural borrowers can obtain loans of up to 3 million yuan from rural commercial banks under the initiative.
Since its launch several months ago, the campaign has since achieved 100% coverage of banks in all 25,967 administrative villages and 169 agricultural parks situated in Sichuan province.
National Business Daily reports that as of 26 September the campaign that seen the installation of over 28,000 QR code scanning devices to support the initiative, and the provision of around 220 million yuan in loans to rural borrowers.
