Chinese banks strengthened support for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and self-employed individuals, as such businesses have been facing increasing difficulties since the beginning of this year.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country’s largest State-owned commercial lender by assets, saw its outstanding balance of inclusive loans rising 43 percent year-on-year at the end of the first quarter.

First-time borrowers who have never taken out bank loans before accounted for about 40 percent of ICBC’s new MSE clients in the first quarter. The comprehensive financing cost of MSEs at the bank fell 60 basis points from the previous year, said Liao Lin, vice-chairman and president at ICBC, at a news conference on Thursday.

The bank used digital technologies to ensure that its funds will arrive at small businesses directly and precisely.

“With the help of data and credit of core enterprises in supply chains, our bank granted unsecured loans to upstream and downstream MSEs to help them lower financing costs and improve our utilization efficiency of funds,” Liao said.

China CITIC Bank Corp, a national joint-stock commercial lender, also launched a suite of digital loan products in accordance with the characteristics of MSEs, using big data analytics in supply chains to evaluate the performance and creditworthiness of small businesses, said Fang Heying, vice-chairman and president of the bank.

As of the end of the first quarter, the outstanding balance of inclusive loans at China CITIC Bank reached nearly 400 billion yuan, up 32.1 billion yuan from the beginning of this year. Its number of first-time borrowers increased by 2,439 in the first three months, accounting for nearly 20 percent of its new MSE borrowers who were granted loans.

jiangxueqing@chinadaily.com.cn