OREANDA-NEWS.  September 03, 2012. Earlier, Mr. Zhang, a tea merchant in Maliandao Tea City received a small loan from ICBC Beijing Branch, the first personal business loan of small amounts of money released by the Branch. From application, approval till getting the loan, Mr. Zhang only waited less than two weeks. He then used the loan (RMB 500,000) to sign a contract to buy Wuyi Rock tea, reported the press-centre of ICBC.

The loan marks the Branch's successful launch of personal business loan of small amounts of money an exclusive loan product for individual industrial and commercial households to use for business purpose.

Small personal business loan is a new product of ICBC to support the growth of individual industrial and commercial households. It is a small RMB loan secured under credit or guarantee and released to borrower as short-term working capital for his/her own business. Each loan is up to RMB 500,000 with a tenure of 1 year longest.

Relative to the conventional loans, personal business loan of small amounts of money is "short-term, fast, flexible" - short tenure, small amount, secured under different options. To individual industrial and commercial households who are small in business scale and lack of collateral, small personal business loan is very suitable since there is no need to provide collateral. Loans are secured under credit or guarantee. Fast and simple application steps let borrowers in urgent need of cash can get loan quickly, save time. Depending on the loan amount, a borrower can choose to pay the loan to counterparty, either by himself/herself or through ICBC. There are different ways to settle loan. Besides, borrowers are attracted to the good loan rate and different service channels to apply for the loan.

Starting from this year, ICBC Beijing Branch keeps scaling up its effort to support micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and individual industrial and commercial households. Keeping their requirements in mind, the Branch rolls out a range of new products. "Best Loan Link", "Personal Business Loan of Small Amounts of Money" is loan product for MSE owners. Moreover, ICBC Beijing Branch launches "Merchant Friends Club" in collaboration with chambers of commerce and special markets to deliver a basket of financial services designed for MSEs covering financing, settlement and wealth management. As of end of June, ICBC Beijing Branch has disbursed over RMB 1.6 billion in business loans to private business owners this year.