Ant Group’s Digital Bank Doubles Down on Financial Inclusion in Rural China
by Fintech News Hong Kong May 3, 2021MYbank, an online private commercial bank in China and an associate of Ant Group with a focus on serving rural areas and small and micro enterprises (SMEs), announced that it plans to more than double the number of rural counties it serves over the next four years.
The bank and its partners aim to offer financial services in 2,000 rural counties in the country by 2025 which will coincide with its 10th year in operation, ensuring rural customers can access the same financial services available in China’s big cities and solving the last-mile problem in rural finance.
The announcement came alongside the publication of its 2020 annual report, which highlighted that the total number of SMEs that MYbank had served at the end of the year increased nearly 70% year-on-year to over 35.07 million from over 20.87 million at the end of 2019, driven by MYbank’s growth in rural areas.
In the six years since its founding, MYbank has served customers in more than 750 counties in China.
“We have continued to record remarkable growth in customer base for five consecutive years.
We expect rural finance to play a significant role in advancing financial inclusion, and will further our efforts to make rural finance more accessible with our financial institution partners.”
said Xiaolong Jin, President of MYbank.
MYbank has kept its non-performing loan ratio at 1.52%, which is reportedly far lower than the 2.99% average for SME loans in China as of June 20201.
In March 2020, MYbank partnered with the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the China Banking Association to launch a “Contactless Loans” campaign, in which 118 banks in China took part in offering supportive loans for SMEs as they resumed operations.
The campaign provided over RMB 870 billion in loans to over 20 million SMEs in sectors hit hard by the pandemic, such as dining and retail. During the six months since the campaign started, MYbank and its partner banks waived RMB 665 million in interest payments for SMEs.
