Hangzhou (CNS) –The banking industry in east China's Zhejiang Province has been helping the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) with specific measures, and a total of 60 billion yuan of bank loans were granted to the SMEs in the almost 80 billion yuan of newly-added bank loans in the fourth quarter, according to preliminary statistics, Zhejiang Banking Regulatory Commission said on Thursday.
On the one hand, banks in Zhejiang have helped to reduce the financing burdens of the SMEs by lowering their expectations of sales and give more profits to the enterprises; for example, with the support of the head offices, different branches in Zhejiang have given away some of the pricing power and the interest rates have risen sustainably, with a promised growth of up to 30%.
On the other hand, the banks have made further efforts to grant more loans to the struggling enterprises and small and micro companies. Preliminary statistics show that in the fourth quarter, the newly-added credits in Wenzhou, a city facing a financing crisis in Zhejiang, totaled 18 billion yuan.
Meanwhile, banks in Zhejiang have provided alternative financing instruments, such as financial bonds and corporate notes. Hangzhou Bank, for instance, has issued 8 billion yuan of financial bonds dedicated to small enterprises.
Local banks have also loosened the criteria for the appraisal of debtors and helped to improve the risk tolerance of non-performing loans in small enterprises. The average rate of non-performing loans in Zhejiang was merely about 0.77% at the end of September.
