At the very backbone of the Chinese economy sits small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which contribute 58.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), 68.3 percent of exports, 69 percent of imports and 43 percent of the country's tax revenue. SMEs employ 75 percent of the urban workforce, and 74 percent of China's technical innovation comes from them. However, difficulties in financing and a shortage of capital have become a bottleneck hindering them from developing properly.

According to statistics from the People's Bank of China, 98.7 percent of SME capital comes from banks while only 1.3 percent from direct financing such as stocks. From the limited channels available for financing, only 10 percent of SMEs can secure a bank loan partly because of the information they must supply to the lender, difficulties with risk evaluation and low credibility.

However, the rapid development of SMEs provides room for the transformation of commercial banks.

At the Dialogue Between Fortune 500 and APEC SMEs, a key forum of the Fourth Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Small and Medium Enterprises Technology Conference and Fair held on May 17-21 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, how to explore a credit market to achieve success both for SMEs and banks became a hot issue.

High-ranking officials from Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communication and the Export-Import Bank of China presented their thoughts on expanding and updating their services for SMEs.

They agreed on the establishment of an effective credit examination and an approval system to simplify evaluation procedures. The threshold for SMEs to get small and short-term loans should be lowered.

They suggested that risk pricing and management mechanisms be set up to classify SMEs on capability, collateral, credibility and capabilities with after service.

They considered a special fund and evaluation system necessary to facilitate SMEs to get bank loans. In addition a violation response mechanism should be in place to record credit worthiness, they said.

All the three banks expressed their willingness to offer SMEs with more products. Bank of Communication, for instance, has granted more guarantee options, accepting the likes of property mortgages, joint guarantees and export credit insurance.

At the end of April, the Bank of Communication had nearly 30,000 SME customers. Of its total loan volume, 47.8 percent went to SMEs, a 13.9 percent increase over the same period of last year.

The Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) is one of China's three policy banks. It has established a system of direct loans and a financing platform to provide export funding services for SMEs.

In cooperation with local governments, it has launched pilot programs in Anhui Province and signed agreements with Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to support SMEs with overseas investment.

China Eximbank also provides information and has set up communication links between large enterprises and SMEs, helping them to get involved in joint financing. It encourages and supports capable, high-tech SMEs to gain entry to international markets by merger and acquisition.

Meanwhile, Vice Governor of Eximbank Li Jun identified the need for SMEs to establish their credibility and to consolidate the basis for cooperation between them and commercial banks. 

At the moment 99 percent of Chinese businesses are SMEs and many of them have performed well in the market and gained high credibility.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Li Shen, May 26, 2006)