OREANDA-NEWS. January 25, 2013. In recent years, consistent with the direction of supporting real economy through delivery of more financial services to micro-and-small enterprises (MSEs), ICBC rolls out innovative MSE loans to address their issue of getting funding from banks, reported the press-centre of ICBC. 

At the end of 2009, the Bank set forth new rules and combined loan products with e-commerce to provide online loans supported by technology. Due to its customized delivery, online loans have been warmly received by the MSEs once available in the market. ICBC has disbursed RMB 771 billion in online loans to 43,000 MSEs in the last three years since the launch of the service. Just in 2012, a total of RMB 328.8 billion online loans has been provided to some 30,000 MSEs, serving specially for this market segment.
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So far, ICBC online loans for MSEs are mainly "Online Loan Link" where borrowers can apply online, micro-financing for online merchants through e-commerce platform and e-supply chain finance. "Online Loan Link" is an ICBC service for micro-and-small enterprises to apply for revolving loan online by themselves. Borrowers only need to sign the revolving loan contract with ICBC one time. After that, they can apply, draw or repay loan under the contract through Internet Banking during the validity period of the contract, no restriction on where and when to apply. "Online Loan Link" is well-suited for MSEs to access speedy, frequent and urgent working capital. "Online Loan Link" is highly efficient, apply freely, no interest if no drawdown, which enables borrowers to borrow and repay loans according to peak/low seasons. This translates to cheaper borrowing cost for MSEs since their demand of working capital is intermittent and periodic.

Besides "Online Loan Link", in line with the financial needs emerged during the development of e-commerce, ICBC also launched services for micro enterprises to apply for small online loans, which are designed for micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households running business on the third-party e-commerce platforms. On the other hand, ICBC rolled out e-supply chain finance, a new product designed for downstream/upstream MSEs around the key companies in the supply chain. By extending loans easily and automatically across different regions, the credit line of key companies can be transferred to the enterprises in the upstream/downstream. Focus is now turned to the logistics and cash flow, helping MSEs in the upstream/downstream to get bank loans in time without the need of collateral (such as real estate) to secure the loan.

In the next step, leveraging the cutting-edge technical expertise and product R&D, ICBC will look at the best delivery of micro-financing during this era of growing internet economy, while focusing consistently on innovation that is relevant to the need of micro/small enterprises, said an ICBC executive. At the forefront of innovation and technology in terms of coming out with new products, ICBC offers a wide range of financial services for MSEs at different stages of development. They will be the first ICBC customers to enjoy the financial services brought by the advance in IT technology to drive their business.