Recently, the 2024 Shandong "Haopin Financial" list was officially released, and the Research Loan product submitted by Qilu Bank was selected for the list of excellent financial technology products.

This event was hosted by the Financial Office of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, the Shandong Branch of the People's Bank of China, the Shandong Regulatory Bureau of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the Dazhong News Group and was organized by the Qilu Evening News & Qilu Yidian and the Shandong Financial Association. The aim was to recommend financial products introduced by various financial institutions, based on the five major areas of financial technology, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance and digital finance.

In recent years, Qilu Bank, as a local corporate bank in Jinan, has consistently aligned its own development strategy with the major strategies of the city and the province. It is actively integrating into and serving the new development pattern of the city. To provide proactive technological financial services, Qilu Bank has elevated technological finance to a strategic level across the entire bank, making the service for technological innovation the starting point for implementing national strategies. They introduced the Research Loan product for various research and development entities to help them achieve high-level development. So far, Qilu Bank has disbursed more than 3.3 billion yuan ($453.7 million) in Research Loans.

Compared to other previous products, the Research Loan has more potential users. Currently, common commercial bank loans for technological research and development lack products that can support small and medium-sized research and development entities, with mismatches between the needs of applicants and the positioning of products. The Research Loan product targets various research entities such as medical schools, technology-based enterprises, research institutions and innovation platforms, with a wide range of applicable users and higher market adaptability for the product.

The Research Loan has also shown innovation in terms of loan types. Aligning the features of research projects, the product is defined as an intangible asset loan and managed as a fixed asset loan. This approach provides long-term stable financial support for research projects by extending the loan term and addresses the financing needs of small and medium-sized enterprises in research projects. It aims to streamline project approval processes and support research and development projects of various market entities of all sizes.

The guarantee mechanism for the Research Loan is more flexible. To better suit the technological research and development projects, the Research Loan weakens the traditional guarantee requirements of project loans for intangible assets such as technological upgrades, intellectual property and data assets. It enriches the ways in which intangible assets can be used as collateral, employing a flexible combination of guarantee modes to alleviate users’ worries.

The usage of funds for the Research Loan is more diverse. To meet the different research and development investment needs of research entities, the product specifies nine major categories of loan fund usage, focusing on investments in aspects such as research personnel, equipment, research design, and outsourced development during the technological research and development process. This refinement enhances the market adaptability and operational effectiveness of the product.

Since the launch of the Research Loan in the market, it has supported more than 460 research and development entities, with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises accounting for 98 percent of the total. The number of specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products at provincial-level and above accounted for 55 percent, and high-tech enterprises accounted for 79 percent. The loan funds are primarily directed toward national key supported high-tech fields such as semiconductors, biomedicine, information technology, aerospace and high-end equipment manufacturing.

According to Qilu Bank, the Research Loan effectively guides credit funds to be used by emerging industries and high-quality micro, small and medium-sized technology companies. It is significantly increasing the scale of credit for technology research and development, medium and long-term, low-cost loans. This initiative is an important measure by Qilu Bank to support technological innovation among research entities in Shandong province, promote talent introduction in the province, and drive high-quality economic development. In the next step, Qilu Bank will spare no effort to excel in the field of technological finance, building a comprehensive, efficient, well-supported and robust technological financial service system and improve the efficiency of technological financial services. With robust and warm-hearted financial services, Qilu Bank aims to showcase financial strength to the development of new quality productive forces and the construction of a modern industrial system, contributing to the wisdom and strength of Shandong.