Construction bank to offer more loans to SMEs
( 2002-09-04 09:25 ) (1 )

China Construction Bank, one of the country's four largest State-owned commercial banks, has pledged to provide more loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Zhang Enzhao, president of the bank, said: "While continuing to actively give support to key State projects, we will beef up loan support for small and medium-sized companies."

In East China's Zhejiang Province, where small and medium-sized companies contributed more than 50 per cent to the province's fiscal revenue, the China Construction Bank plans to provide up to 50 billion yuan (US$6 billion) in loans for these companies in the coming three years, Zhang said.

The bank also has plans to help small and medium-sized companies in other areas including East China's Jiangsu Province, although it did not say how much in loans it will provide.

With the aim to better serve small and medium-sized companies, China Construction Bank has established a business management centre for these companies, further studying and managing the credit work.

"We are now busy setting up similar management centres at the provincial-level branches where the small and medium-sized companies are developed," Zhang said.

China Construction Bank will also provide other financial services such as fixed assets investment management, project evaluation, investment consulting, project financing and fund management for these companies.

Niu Li, a senior economist with the State Information Centre, said China Construction Bank's decision, to expand support for small and medium-sized enterprises, suggests that it is responding actively to the central government's call to help these companies.

"Small and medium-sized companies contributed greatly to the national economic development," he said.

But commercial banks are usually cautious about giving loans to small and medium-sized businesses, due to the risks involved.

An earlier news report said that a large number of small and medium-sized companies were found to have defaulted on payments, leaving mountains of bad debts behind.