OREANDA-NEWS. August 14, 2013. In order to enlarge his business scale, Mr. Yu, a businessman dealing in seafood, wanted a loan of RMB 2 million, but the property that he used for guaranty was only worth RMB 2 million after evaluation. According to relevant provision, he could only get a loan of up to RMB 1.4 million, but there was still a gap of RMB 600,000. What could be done, then? This was a problem harassing Mr. Yu, but now it does not exist any longer.

As learnt by the reporter, Industrial Bank (IB) released “Business Express” – an exclusive integrated financial service program for the group of “growing business owners”, providing timely and convenient financing assistance to business owners like Mr. Yu. Over the past three years, the program has totally provided personal business loans of RMB 190 billion to 90,000 small- and mini-sized enterprises.

With the five characteristic services of “loan financing, payment and settlement, family wealth management, VIP service and exclusive card”, “Business Express” highlights the business orientation of IB to sink the service focus of customer groups initiatively and lend active support for the development of small- and mini-sized real economy.

“Combined Toolbox” of Financing
Boasting the five characteristic services of “loan financing, payment and settlement, family wealth management, VIP service and exclusive card”, “Business Express” serves as a “combined toolbox” of financing for small- and mini-sized business owners.

The most important feature of “Business Express” is fast loan extension. Rather than restricting itself to the single guarantee mode based on fixed assets, the program provides a flexible variety of guaranteeing methods with a view to meeting the pressing needs of small- and mini-sized business owners. Mr. Yu is not a native of Fuzhou. When his seafood business reached a certain scale, he wanted to develop the market of dried seafood, but there was fund gap up to RMB 2 million against his extension of business scale. His real property in Fuzhou was only worth RMB 2 million after evaluation.

According to the general provision of a bank for pledge based loan, however, he could only get a loan of up to RMB 1.4 million, and there was still a gap of RMB 600,000 to be filled. After learning the situation, a customer manager of IB helped him to design a guarantee solution combining “pledge and guaranty”: choose a guarantor recognized by the bank to assume the guarantee warranty after going through the procedures for the top amount of loan with real property. Finally, Mr. Yu gained the credit line of RMB 2 million from IB smoothly.

In addition, the product of “Business Express” is also characterized by the circulating utilization with one credit extension. This may benefit small- and mini-sized business owners in two aspects: first, convenient availability of funds and high time efficiency; second, a considerable amount of loan interest saved. Mr. Wang, who deals in beverage, also has a great feeling to this. According to Mr. Wang, the industry of beverage would be in need of great demand of funds upon festivals, but he couldn't afford the energy to apply for loans at different times. As a result, he applied for a one-year loan once for saving troubles. In fact, nonetheless, the funds borrowed were mainly used before and after festivals and holidays, so he paid a considerable amount of interests additionally.

After listening to the professional advice of a customer manger of IB, Mr. Wang applied for a “Business Express” credit line of RMB 1 million to the bank, but did not use the loan temporarily. Each time when there were one or two days before stock purchase, he would apply to the bank for using the loan, and the fund could be available upon the date of application. This ensured that he could made timely distribution. As long as the sales incomes are recovered, he would make repayment in a timely manner. He would use the loan again when he needed money. Thanks to the decrease in the unnecessary occupation time of funds, Mr. Wang has saved an amount of interest nearly RMB 40,000. He said: “Business Express has brought me substantial benefits, and I have saved RMB 40,000 so easily!”

When the business grows bigger, the requirement for payment settlement will become higher naturally. Ms. Huo, dealing in the wholesale of garment, has fund transactions with upstream manufacturers and downstream small wholesalers each day, with amounts ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. It is not convenient and safe to handle the transactions in cash, and she may likely receive counterfeit money. However, with the installation of “Business Express” telephone POS, this has not been a problem for her. Ms. Huo said: “Business Express POS not merely ensures the convenience and security of fund flow, but more importantly, the funds can be received quickly. I will be notified of the information on the arrival of funds by SMS within several minutes, and the charges are cheaper than those for counter handling. Now, I almost don't go to banking outlets to deposit money. What a great convenience!”

Going Near to Small- and Mini-sized Enterprises with Innovated Marketing
Upholding the business concept of “growing together” with customers, IB has, setting its foothold in services to small- and mini-sized enterprises, pushed the sustained innovation in products so as to meet the needs of customers.

As noted by the reporter, in 2013, IB innovatively released the short-term financing product ranging from 7 to 90 days – “Simple Loan”, a product mainly targeting at POS acquiring merchants with steady cash flow and objects of payment settlement. Aiming to help customer to simplify the loan application procedures and repayment formalities and improve the convenience of payment settlement, the product can also be handled in the way of guarantee-free credit. With a flexible and easy operation mode, it fully meets the capital flow demands of customers of “Business Express” personal business loans, which are characterized by urgent need, short term and high frequency. Moreover, on the basis of loans, “Business Express” also provides various trade financing services for individual industrial or commercial business owners, including commercial note of bank acceptance, discount and letter of guarantee, which further enrich the variety of credit business services.

Considering the differentiated financing needs and arrangement of repayment periods of many small- and mini-sized enterprises, “Business Express” personal business loan has also released these innovative products in succession, including “non-local pledge”, “one business, two loans”, the repayment method of “principal repayment in installments”, and automatic installment of Credit Cards.

In order to provide further services to small- and mini-sized enterprises, IB has, considering the clustered operation features of small- and mini-sized enterprises, established strategic partnership with “one circle, two chains and three associations” (namely, business circle, supply chain and capital chain, business association, industrial association and business administration committees of specialized markets). Making use of their information advantages and administrative functions, the bank reduces the risk of information asymmetry between banks and enterprises, carries out cluster marketing to merchants of the same type, and applies standardized loan examination procedure, thus improving the level and time efficiency of services provided to small- and mini-sized enterprises.

In the process of serving all business circles and specialized markets, IB has showcased its “individualized” service features distinctively. For instance, in the mature specialized markets with certain reputation across China, such as Yiwu China Small-Commodity Market, Haining China Leather City, Shaoxing China Textile City, Bairong World Trade Center, and Changshu China Garment City, IB focused on promoting the “loan by pledging the use right to business position”, in the Aquatic Product Wholesale Market of Fuzhou, IB innovatively released the loan guarantee methods including “mortgage rent for individual store (business position) lessees” and “pledge of merchants' frozen food + repo guaranty of market management party + security”; in Hangzhou Sijiqing Clothing Market under Hangzhou Sijiqing Clothing Group, the bank provided centralized billing service for nearly 2,000 merchants, with a coverage of 100%.

Since launch of “Business Express” personal business loan in 2010, IB has granted a total of “Business Express” personal business loans about RMB 190 billion to support approximately 90,000 business owners from many industries including garment wholesale and retail, catering, building material and home decoration, supermarket, general merchandise, small commodities and wholesale of agricultural and sideline products, and issued more than 2 million “Business Express” debit cars for growing business owners.

From the perspective of acquiring service, IB has acquiring merchants of “Business Express” exceed 330,000, with a monthly trading amount up to RMB 100 billion on average, which ranks front among the joint-stock commercial banks that accept the inter-bank transactions with bank cards bearing the mark of UnionPay.

The performance of IB in supporting the development of small- and mini-sized enterprises has won the recognition of all social circles. In recent years, the bank has won a number of honors conferred by China Association of Small and Medium Commercial Enterprises, China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) and mainstream media, including “Top 10 China's Commercial Bank Supporting the Development of SMEs”, “Characteristic Financial Service Product for Small Enterprises by a Financial Institution in the Chinese Banking Industry”, “2012 Best Joint-stock Bank for Services to SMEs”, and “2012 Best Brand of Financial Services to Small- and Mini-sized Enterprises”.

IB indicates that the development of small- and mini-sized enterprises plays an irreplaceable role in boosting employment, promoting innovative development, increasing incomes of residents, and maintaining social stability. The bank will continue intensifying innovation in financial services and further extending credit to small- and mini-sized enterprises, and lend sustained support for sound development of small- and mini-sized real economy.