Shenzhen Ping An Bank expects lending to small- and medium-sized
enterprises to grow 50 percent next year, according to the
lender.
The Shenzhen-based bank expects the growth of loans to SMEs will
outpace the corporate banking's growth of 18 percent in 2008, said
Ye Wangchun, vice president of the bank.
"The focus and support on the SME business is quite clear," said
Ye.
The bank's SME business will be run relatively independently to
develop more interest among employees to grow the business, he
added.
The bank set up eight sub-branches in Shenzhen. In Shanghai, it
will set up two SME service centers - one opened yesterday - to woo
qualified clients. A similar center will be set up in Fuzhou,
capital of Fujian Province.
China is encouraging SME financing to help small businesses, a
group which has little track record and collateral to get credit
from banks.
Ping An Bank offers a one-year non-collateral loans of up to
500,000 yuan (US$68,212.82) to SMEs.
The bank is also leveraging the insurance strength of parent
Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, the country's second-biggest insurer,
to expand its banking business.
The bank will pick up five percent of its clients to help them
list on China's growth enterprise market with the help of Ping An
Securities under the Ping An umbrella.
"We will look at any opportunity to expand business," said
Richard Jackson, president of the bank and the chief finance
business officer of Ping An Insurance (Group).
"We will concentrate very hard on organic growth," Jackson said,
noting that Ping An Group's business was mainly achieved via
organic growth in its 20-year history.
The bank plans to add five to six outlets in Shanghai by the end
of 2008, said Wang Shijun, manager of the Shanghai branch of the
bank.
Ping An gained regulatory approval in June to buy Ping An Bank
and merge it with Shenzhen Commercial Bank to form Shenzhen Ping An
Bank. The bank is a relatively small player, with a total of about
50 outlets in Shanghai, Shenzhen in Guangdong Province and Fuzhou
in Fujian Province.
The bank will focus on retail and SME financing.
(Shanghai Daily December 27, 2007)
