As one of the "five major articles" in finance, inclusive finance is related to the development of small and micro enterprises' business entities and people's livelihood and well-being. Recently, various banks have successively disclosed their 2024 performance reports. The financial report shows that under the promotion of policies, financial institutions have made efforts to carry out inclusive financial business, which has effectively promoted the flow of financial resources to the real economy.

  Service growth rate improves quality

  According to the monitoring caliber of the State Administration for Financial Regulation, inclusive small and micro loans refer to small and micro enterprise loans with a total credit amount of less than 10 million yuan (inclusive). Among the listed banks that have released their annual reports, many banks have grown rapidly inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises. Among them, the growth rate of inclusive micro and micro loans of Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China and Bank of Communications all exceeded 29%, reaching 31.3%, 29.9%, 29.63% and 29.1% respectively.

  Judging from the new scale of inclusive small and micro loans in 2024, the balance of inclusive small and micro loans of Agricultural Bank of China has exceeded 3.2 trillion yuan, the balance of inclusive small and micro loans of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has approached 2.9 trillion yuan, and the balance of inclusive small and micro loans of Bank of China exceeds 2 trillion yuan. Among joint-stock banks, the new scale of inclusive small and micro loans of China Merchants Bank, Industrial Bank, CITIC Bank, Minsheng Bank and Zhejiang Commercial Bank exceeded 10 billion yuan last year.

  According to financial report information, in 2024, commercial banks will include inclusive finance in their strategic planning and key layout, and financial institutions will focus on the difficult issues of "small and micro" financing to promote inclusive finance.

  Industrial and Commercial Bank of China actively optimizes its product system. Build a standardized inclusive financial product system, create three product lines: fast loan, online loan, and digital supply chain, and improve the service capabilities of sub-sectors such as manufacturing, farmers, merchants, and specialized and new "little giant" enterprises; encourage characteristic product innovation, expand service scenarios according to local conditions, flexibly support regional industrial development, and improve the adaptability and pertinence of inclusive credit services. Renew and upgrade the fast loan business, launch the "Manufacturing e-loan" digital inclusive credit loan product for small and micro manufacturing enterprises, further enriching the supply of micro and small products. Create the "e-expand fast loan" online loan product to support small and micro enterprises to expand medium- and long-term capital needs in the reproduction process.

  Bank of China focuses on small and micro enterprises in the field of technology, improves full life cycle services, provides a package of financial services such as account opening, salary payment, settlement, private banking, capital services, etc., and provides loans of more than 600 billion yuan to more than 40,000 national and provincial specialized and new small and medium-sized enterprises. Continue to promote intellectual property pledge financing business, carry out special activities to help the development of industrial chains such as new energy vehicles, and regularly prepare and release the "Enterprise Intellectual Property Pledge Financing Index".

  Bank of Communications continues to optimize its credit structure, increase its investment in key areas such as small and micro first-time lenders, technology-based small and micro enterprises, and comprehensive rural revitalization, and inclusive credit continues to expand volume and increase its scope, improve quality and efficiency. Enrich the brand connotation of Bank of Communications and Bank of Communications, enhance the online level of the "Puhui e-loan" and "Xingnong e-loan" series of products, and realize the dual-wheel drive of standardized products and scene customized products. Promote the inclusiveness of all employees, improve comprehensive services for small and micro customer groups, and innovatively launch the "Enterprise Mobile Banking Inclusiveness Special Edition 2.0".

  Bohai Bank uses the development concept of technology to empower "digital, platform, scenario, and ecology" to explore the establishment of a new model of digital inclusive finance, embed inclusive financial services into various scenarios for the production and operation of small and micro enterprises, and further improve the quality and efficiency of financial services for small and micro enterprises. As of the end of the reporting period, the bank's inclusive loan balance was 55.271 billion yuan in 2024, an increase of 3.8 billion yuan from the end of the previous year, and the number of inclusive loan accounts was 129,465, an increase of 13,800 from the end of the previous year.

  Jiang Ping, Director of the Inclusive Finance Department of the State Administration for Financial Regulation, said at a press conference of the State Information Office that in the next step, the State Administration for Financial Regulation will continue to promote the increase in information sharing, guide financial institutions to accurately connect, maintain the loan issuance of small and micro enterprises, improve the quality of loans, scientifically and reasonably determine loan interest rates, optimize the loan business structure, increase support for first loans, renewal loans, and credit loans, and better meet the financing needs of trustworthy small and micro enterprises.

  Layout of mobile banking

  Digitalization is an important tool for financial institutions to improve the efficiency of inclusive finance. In November 2024, the "Action Plan for Promoting the High-Quality Development of Digital Finance" jointly issued by the People's Bank of China and seven other departments proposed to accelerate the digital transformation of financial institutions and improve the convenience and competitiveness of financial services with data elements and digital technology as the key driving.

  "Developing inclusive finance, through traditional means such as laying institutions and personnel, is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also difficult to meet the growing new needs of financial consumers. Financial institutions should deeply use the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technological means to promote mobile banking business, further standardize and batch inclusive financial services, continuously reduce operating costs, and improve user experience." Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of China Merchants Group, said.

  In 2024, commercial banks will continue to increase their investment in innovative development of mobile banking business and enhancing customer stickiness. Data shows that the total number of individual customers of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China ranked first. As of the end of 2024, among state-owned banks, the number of ICBC's mobile banking customers increased to 588 million, maintaining the industry's leading position. China Construction Bank has 563 million online individual users, ranking second. The number of registered customers of Agricultural Bank of China's personal banking reached 561 million, an increase of 49.22 million from the end of last year, ranking third. In addition, the number of mobile banking customers of Postal Savings Bank is 378 million; the cumulative number of contracted customers of Bank of China Mobile Banking exceeded 293 million, an increase of 6.9% over the end of the previous year.

  Among the national joint-stock banks, in 2024, the three major APPs of China Everbright Bank Mobile Banking, Sunshine Hui Life and Cloud Payment had a total of 346.4571 million users, an increase of 13.04% year-on-year; the number of contracted customers of Pudong Development Bank Mobile Banking exceeded 87 million; the number of valid customers of Industrial Bank Mobile Banking reached 62.7885 million, an increase of 11.97% from the end of the previous year.

  Judging from the monthly active users of mobile terminals, as of the end of 2024, the number of monthly active users of ICBC mobile terminals exceeded 260 million, and its activity remained the first among the industry; the number of monthly active users of Agricultural Bank of China mobile banking reached 250 million, an increase of 37.21 million from the end of the previous year; the number of monthly active users of Bank of China's personal mobile banking reached 97.9315 million, an increase of 11.59% year-on-year; the number of monthly active customers of Postal Savings Bank of Mobile Banking exceeded 81 million; the number of monthly active customers of Bank of Communications mobile banking was 55.4084 million, an increase of 12.84% from the end of the previous year. The monthly active users of China Merchants Bank APP reached 82.6781 million; the monthly active users of CITIC Bank mobile banking reached 18.8827 million; the monthly active users of Industrial Bank mobile banking increased by 70.43% in the past three years to 26.6403 million, with a compound growth rate of 19.45%.

  Large commercial banks accelerate the integration of mobile technology and retail, and mobile banking transaction amounts have increased. As of the end of 2024, the annual transaction volume of Bank of China Mobile Banking reached 46.68 trillion yuan; the transaction volume of Postal Savings Bank of China Mobile Banking reached 17.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.21% year-on-year.

  Mobile banking has brought more convenience to financial consumers and has also become an important carrier of inclusive finance. The "2024 China Digital Bank Survey Report" shows that the survey found that more than 70% of users regard mobile banking as convenient service processing centers, and the proportion has increased significantly by 10.4 percentage points compared with the previous year. While providing financial services, mobile banking is also actively expanding the field of convenient services to meet the increasingly diverse needs of users.

  Both supply and demand

  Supporting the high-quality development of small and micro enterprises is a practical need to stabilize the macroeconomic market and promote employment and an inevitable requirement for promoting economic transformation and upgrading. In order to guide credit funds to quickly reach grassroots small and micro enterprises, the State Administration for Financial Regulation and the National Development and Reform Commission took the lead in establishing a "coordination mechanism for supporting financing for small and micro enterprises", making efforts from both supply and demand, and coordinating the problem of financing difficulties for small and micro enterprises and bank lending difficulties.

  Driven by policies, commercial banks have actively implemented the coordination of financing for small and micro enterprises. "ICBC vigorously promotes the implementation of the financing coordination mechanism for small and micro enterprises. The loan growth rate is significantly higher than the average growth rate of the whole bank, and the number of loans with loans has increased by more than 40%. The proportion of retail + inclusive loans has continued to increase, inclusive loans have increased by more than 660 billion yuan compared with the beginning of the year, and personal loans have increased by more than 300 billion yuan." Zhang Shouchuan, deputy governor of ICBC, said.

  The financing coordination working mechanism guides credit funds to quickly and directly reach small and micro enterprises, effectively promotes the improvement of the quality and efficiency of inclusive financial services, and plays a positive role in promoting the solution to the problem of difficulty, high cost and slow financing for small and micro enterprises, enhancing the development capabilities and confidence of small and micro enterprises, supporting enterprises with difficulties in operating to overcome difficulties, and effectively boosting the economy.

  Huang Jianqin, general manager of the inclusive finance department of the Agricultural Bank of China, said that the financing coordination mechanism is being implemented and fully implemented, and has achieved initial results. I believe that relying on the joint efforts and coordinated promotion of government, banks and enterprises will surely effectively open up the "last mile" of finance benefiting enterprises and the people, so that low-cost credit funds can flow to small and micro enterprises more, faster and more accurately, and fully stimulate the vitality of small and micro enterprises. (Reporter Peng Jiang)

[Editor in charge: Gu Yue]