SHANGHAI advocates strengthened community financial services by small lenders to support micro businesses and rural development in the city, the local banking regulator said yesterday.
"Smaller lenders and rural financial institutions in Shanghai need to take a different and characteristic path, and actively explore the operational model of community banks," said the China Banking Regulatory Commission Shanghai office in the notice.
The banking regulator in Beijing has earlier demanded the medium and small banks to focus on providing services to the "locals, grass roots, and communities."
Local banks opened 134 sub-branches in the city last year, after the municipal government required for additional service outlets in large residential communities in a bid to improve community financial services.
Micro and agricultural-related business have received more financial support last year, said the regulator, as over 90 percent of the loans in nine local rural banks were extended to those businesses.
The local regulator also required that financial institutions in the city should "extensively, continuously and systematically" engage in financial publicity and education activities to enhance consumer credit awareness and risk prevention for their own protection.