OREANDA-NEWS. December 13, 2011. Today, small and micro enterprises face the problem of inadequate working capital due to slow recovery of account receivables from downstream companies. In this context, ICBC has recently launched e-supply chain finance service to help many small and micro enterprises relieve working capital pressure. Chengdu Wanrong Pharmaceutical Company Limited is a small-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing company, reported the press-centre of ICBC.

The Company has just applied e-supply chain credit facility via ICBC Internet Banking. Formerly it needed 4 months to collect back one account receivable of more than RMB 8 million, now it only takes one working day. As a result, Chengdu Wanrong gets the working capital in need.

Industry insiders commented that around 60% total assets of small-and-medium enterprises in China are movable assets - account receivables, inventory assets. There is a huge potential for supply chain finance service with account receivables used as pledge. The new e-supply chain finance service of ICBC not only reduces the cost of the service significantly, but plays a major role in helping small/micro enterprises obtain bank loans.

In e-supply chain finance, online credit facilities are fully embedded into supply chain transactions through real-time connectivity to the ERP system of key companies in the supply chain, said an executive with ICBC. Business processes are much simpler than those in conventional supply chain finance, more efficient, automated, convenient and serving across the regions.

First, by working closely with the key companies to transfer the credit line to the enterprises in the upstream/downstream, focus is now turned to the logistics and cash flow, helping small/micro enterprises in the upstream/downstream address the issue of guarantee due to lack of adequate collateral.

Second, ICBC e-supply chain finance solutions employ a business model of "self-service online operation + internal automated system processing". Customers just logon ICBC website, apply freely for credit facility, upload or confirm order, draw cash, pay, repay or look up details, simple steps and flexible. ICBC e-supply chain finance solutions offer great convenience for small/micro enterprises to access "short-term, frequent, urgent" loans.

Third, ICBC e-supply chain finance solutions take full advantage of ICBC's service channels to achieve "Single Point Access, Full Services", even customers in a different location from the key companies. The service is available across the regions, serving all the upstream/downstream customers in the supply chain in different places.

Moreover, information related to credit facility, commercial and business are shared between many parties dynamically in real-time. All transactions between companies can be viewed online, which is translated to greater convenience to customers, better risk control and win-win for ICBC and companies.