Irrigate the fertile soil of the countryside with fresh water
In 2023, the No. 1 Central Document "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting the Key Work of Rural Revitalization in 2023" was released on February 13.
The document deploys to comprehensively promote the key tasks of rural revitalization, and puts forward specific requirements for promoting financial institutions to increase loans in areas related to rural revitalization and speed up the construction of a strong agricultural country.
How can the financial industry implement the requirements of the No. 1 Central Document, serve food production, do a good job in "three rural" work, and comprehensively promote rural revitalization by getting rid of pain points?
Economic Daily reporter conducted an interview.
Increase loans for rural revitalization
Rural finance has always been a weak point in financial services. Financial support for rural revitalization requires constant exploration of effective ways of innovative financial support for rural construction, so as to promote financial flow into rural areas.
How to fulfill the requirements of promoting financial institutions to increase loans in areas related to rural revitalization proposed by the No. 1 Central Document?
"From the perspective of 'quantity', all banks should increase the amount of agriculture-related credit, ensure the continuous growth of the balance of agriculture-related loans, and ensure that the supply of agriculture-related credit matches the demand for agriculture-related financing. Through various regulatory policies, guide and motivate banks Tilt the allocation of credit resources to rural areas and increase the supply of rural finance," said Political Commissar Lu, Chief Economist of Industrial Bank.
At present, the regulatory authorities have made specific requirements on the growth rate of agriculture-related loans of various banks.
For large and medium-sized commercial banks, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in the 2020 Banking and Insurance Industry Serving the "Sannong" Field", which expanded the requirements for the growth rate of agriculture-related loans to all large and medium-sized banks. It is also clarified that "Agricultural Development Bank and large and medium-sized commercial banks must strive to achieve the goal that the growth rate of inclusive agriculture-related loans is higher than the average growth rate of the bank's various loans."
The regulatory authorities have also proposed differentiated assessment targets for inclusive agriculture-related loans year by year, and institutionalized the assessment indicators for agriculture-related loans through regulatory measures.
For rural commercial banks, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission put forward specific numerical goals for rural commercial banks to "serve local and county areas" and "return to the main business of credit" in the "Opinions on Promoting Rural Commercial Banks to Adhere to Positioning, Strengthen Governance, and Improve Financial Service Capabilities".
From the perspective of "price", the Political Commissar of Lu believes that it is necessary to encourage banks to set more favorable internal fund transfer pricing for agriculture-related loans, and use various structural policy tools to ensure that various agriculture-related entities can obtain "adequate quantity and excellent price" supply of credit.
On the one hand, through the setting of preferential interest rates for agriculture-related loans, the capital cost of rural business entities can be effectively reduced; Banks lower interest rates on agriculture-related loans to better play the role of "precise and direct" monetary policy.
For example, the People's Bank of China has further increased the amount and intensity of re-loans to support agriculture, guided local corporate financial institutions to expand agriculture-related credit, and reduced the financing cost of agriculture-related loans.
The increase in the "volume" of agriculture-related loans has further pushed down the interest rate of agriculture-related loans.
Due to the lack of collateral for agricultural production in rural areas and the lack of improvement in the credit reporting system in rural areas, it is difficult for banks to increase credit for loans and obtain sufficient information to ensure the quality of loans.
Experts said that it is still necessary to expand the credit enhancement methods of agriculture-related credit, promote the construction of the rural credit system, further improve the availability and convenience of rural farmers to obtain loans, and explore the root cause of the difficulty of solving the unsound rural financial system.
In the face of practical problems, Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of China Merchants Union Finance, said that commercial banks should actively use financial technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to improve branch services "on the cloud"; further standardize and batch inclusive financial services, and continuously Reduce operating costs.
At the same time, actively optimize county-level and even village-level digital financial services, and explore a business risk management system suitable for "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" with the help of the establishment of a rural credit reporting system and the construction of a small and micro guarantee system.
Securing Food Security Credit Facility
Ensuring a stable and safe supply of food and important agricultural products is the top priority for building a strong agricultural country.
my country's grain production has remained stable at more than 1.3 trillion catties for eight consecutive years, providing an important support for economic development.
This year's No. 1 Central Document emphasized that we should pay close attention to ensuring the stable production and supply of grain and important agricultural products, and focus on ensuring the demand for food security credit funds.
"The country attaches great importance to the work of 'Sannong', and the financial management department has launched a series of policies to support and guide financial institutions to increase the issuance of agriculture-related loans." Wen Bin, chief economist of Minsheng Bank, said that various banking institutions have effectively taken on the role of serving the "three rural areas" In order to provide financial guarantee for the national food security, it will introduce the financial flow into every link of grain production, purchase, processing, storage and so on.
As the only agricultural policy bank in China, the Agricultural Development Bank of China gives full play to its role as the main channel for the supply of grain purchase funds to support and guarantee national food security in an all-round way.
In terms of specific measures, the first is to coordinate and support policy-based purchases and storage and market-based acquisitions.
627.884 billion yuan of various grain and oil loans were issued, of which central and local government-owned grain and oil reserves, rotation and regulation loans accounted for more than 50% of the amount granted, and supported the purchase of 482 billion catties of grain and oil, with a market share of 60%, effectively implementing the "grain bank" duty.
The second is to focus on supporting the two key areas of cultivated land and seeds.
Focusing on key areas such as high-standard farmland construction, transformation of medium and low-yield fields, and comprehensive land improvement in the whole region, it issued 267.26 billion yuan in farmland loans, an increase of 122.416 billion yuan year-on-year; continued to carry out investment and loan linkage, and invested and loaned 37.287 billion yuan to support the seed industry , Supporting 31 seed industry enterprises.
The third is to vigorously support agricultural technological innovation.
A total of 48.609 billion yuan of agricultural science and technology loans were granted, which supported a number of projects such as the development of agricultural machinery and equipment, smart agriculture, and the construction of agricultural science and technology innovation platforms, and actively promoted the research and development, transformation and application of agricultural science and technology.
As the main force of my country's rural financial services, the Agricultural Bank of China regards serving food security as "the biggest player in the country" and firmly holds the bottom line of ensuring national food security.
The relevant person in charge of the Agricultural Bank of China said that it is now a critical period for spring plowing and preparation. The Agricultural Bank of China has thoroughly implemented the spirit of the Central Rural Work Conference and the No. 1 document of the Central Committee, and has taken serving spring plowing and preparation as the central task of the current "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" and county-level business. Make every effort to guarantee the financial needs of spring agricultural production, and strive to increase the bank's spring farming preparation loans by more than 160 billion yuan this year.
At present, it is an important node for spring plowing and preparation. Doing a good job in spring plowing and preparation is related to the stable increase of agricultural production and the steady increase of farmers' income.
Postal Savings Bank stated that it will do its best to provide financial services in key areas of rural revitalization, support the supply of important agricultural products such as grain, the construction of a modern agricultural management system, and rural construction actions, and provide basic financial services in rural areas to help stabilize agricultural production and increase farmers’ income. Stable and peaceful.
Since the beginning of this year, Postal Savings Bank Xianyang Branch has actively carried out marketing visits to help spring plowing preparations. A separate credit line of 80 million yuan supports spring plowing preparations. Credit funds are put in to meet the needs of growers to purchase agricultural materials such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, and agricultural machinery.
Up to now, the bank has issued 117 million yuan in spring plowing and spring preparation loans, an increase of more than 36 million yuan over the same period last year.
Joint-stock commercial banks also actively responded to policy requirements. For example, Industrial Bank integrated financial services into grain production, purchase, processing, warehousing, distribution and other links, extending to the entire industrial chain to provide more financial support for ensuring and stabilizing grain production.
As of the end of 2022, the bank's financing balance around grain planting and primary processing has exceeded 15 billion yuan, an increase of more than 5 billion yuan from the beginning of the year.
In Henan, the core grain production area in the country, Industrial Bank focuses on grain storage enterprises, deepens cooperation with many leading grain storage groups in the province, increases credit support, formulates comprehensive financial service plans, and fully supports Henan's grain industry develop.
Since 2017, it has provided nearly 3 billion yuan of various financial support for Henan's grain purchase and storage through the grain storage financing business.
Accelerate the Reform of Rural Credit Cooperatives and Eliminate Risks
Deepening the reform of rural credit cooperatives is an important part of improving the rural financial service system and enhancing the supply of high-quality rural finance, and is of great significance to strengthening financial services for rural revitalization.
This year's No. 1 Central Document requires that the reform of rural credit cooperatives be accelerated to eliminate risks.
Small and medium-sized banks, including rural credit cooperatives, are an important part of my country's financial system and the main force in financial support for agriculture and small businesses. It is worth noting that small and medium-sized banks are weak links in the financial system. Problems such as imperfect and unsuitable operating mechanisms need to be solved, and the risks of small and medium-sized banks in some regions are still relatively prominent.
"Rural financial reforms should optimize the corporate governance system of rural credit institutions, strengthen equity management, optimize the shareholder structure, strengthen the construction of the board of directors and supervisors, strengthen the supervisory role of the board of supervisors, strengthen the management of related transactions, improve corporate governance capabilities, and make them become equity optimization and governance norms. , Modern small and medium-sized banks with strong service capabilities. During the reform process, the disposal of high-risk rural credit institutions should be accelerated. For small-scale and high-risk county-level legal person institutions in the central, western and northeastern regions, mergers by absorption and new establishments can be adopted It is necessary to further expand the channels for the disposal of non-performing assets of rural credit institutions, comprehensively use batch transfers, securitization, debt-to-equity swaps and other means to digest the stock of non-performing assets, and strengthen policies in terms of broadening the source of funds and reducing or exempting taxes and fees. Support. Local governments should implement their territorial risk management responsibilities, and provide more 'real money' to support small and medium-sized financial institutions to resolve risks." Dong Ximiao said.
Experts said that the financial management department should strengthen the top-level design and guidance of the reform of rural credit cooperatives, and clarify the basic rules and requirements that the reform needs to follow.
Reform is in the process of active exploration.
In April 2022, the "first order" for deepening the reform of rural credit cooperatives across the country was officially implemented in Zhejiang, and Zhejiang Rural Commercial United Bank was established on the basis of Zhejiang Provincial Association.
The reformed rural credit system has transformed its operation and management mechanism at the system level, and is moving towards the construction of a modern small and medium-sized banking system with clear property rights, sound governance, sufficient capital, and distinctive features of supporting agriculture and small businesses.
The person in charge of the relevant department of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission also stated a few days ago that they will adhere to problem-oriented and goal-oriented, and use systematic thinking to plan and promote the reform of small and medium-sized rural banks.
Support "one province, one policy" to speed up the reform of rural credit cooperatives, transform the functions of provincial institutions of rural credit cooperatives, standardize the performance of duties, strengthen the economic relationship between the two levels of legal persons, and thoroughly solve the problem of inaccurate positioning, unclear functions, and There is no separation between government and enterprises, and unequal power and responsibility.
Promote rural credit cooperatives to optimize their regional layout according to local conditions and enhance their sustainable development capabilities.
(Economic Daily reporter Peng Jiang)