Minister urges swap of data between banks and businesses

Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, is encouraging the creation of coordination mechanisms to help industrial enterprises and financial institutions exchange financing information.

Working with the People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the minister said the aim is to help stabilize industrial growth by providing companies with stronger financial support.

"Relevant government departments and banking regulators at the local levels should make a list of their financing needed for major projects and major companies in their regions," he said.

"They should also hold project matchmaking events, intensify project follow-up and assessment, and use big data analytics to build a platform for information exchange between industries and banks."

Encouraging banks to continue their efforts at financial innovation, he said they will be allowed to make their own lending decisions, and that the government would not force them to provide financing for any industrial enterprises or projects.

Zhou Mubing, vice-chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said he encouraged the exploration of any models that could better integrate banks with corporations.

He advised banks to provide comprehensive financial service solutions targeted at different areas of corporate business, such as production, services and sales.

China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd, a mid-sized commercial lender, last year launched an online transaction banking product system targeting corporate clients, which helps integrate its corporate business with commercial banking.

Yang Yu, its vice-president, said on Thursday more than 130,000 new corporate and institutional clients benefited from the banking services in 2015.

Jiang Yulin, managing director of CITIC's corporate banking department, said it also pioneered a collaborative model for commercial lenders and manufactures by launching an e-commerce supply-chain finance program for Haier Group, a home appliances solution provider.

Jing Shuiyu contributed to this story.