Lately, there has been a few noteworthy news pieces on China’s microfinance development.  Dr. Yunus announced at the Clinton Global Initiative that it will be starting a bank in Sichuan.  Jack Ma’s Alibaba is said to contribute $5 million to kick start lending.  Dr. Yunus has been trying to start a true Grameen Bank in China since 2006.  I am not sure if the small loan company license (小额贷款公司) has been issued yet, but you have to give them credit for trying.  Perhaps the announcement is to increase pressure for the government to hand over licenses quick.

Vikram Akula of SKS recently wrote an Op-Ed in the WSJ about opening up investments in MFIs in China.  He is definitely correct in pointing out that most casual observers who sees China as ‘developed’ and don’t need microfinance is wrong.  He is also correct that the sector needs to open up.  But I would have like to see what his ideas are in terms of liberalizing the sector.  Allowing foreign investment is definitely one option (which he is, of course, interested in), but what else can China do domestically?  Are there different models that he can share given India and SKS’s experience?  As he pointed out, current regulations do not allow MFIs to take deposits.  What then, are the risks of the MFIs?  What should MFIs who do not take deposits be aware of in terms of managing risks?

Lastly, a press release from from HSBC came out yesterday that it has partnered with Women’s World Banking (WWB) in provided microloans through its rural banks in China, specifically in Hebei’s Suizhou branch and Chongqing Dazu branch.  According to a Caijing article, the product is called “Happy Loans” (”贷款乐”).  The product has been piloting for 3 months in Suizhou and is currently being expanded.  What is WWB’s role in this partnership?  Is it providing operational expertise?  If so, does this mean that WWB (and perhaps MFIs in general) is better at assessing credit worthiness of low-income borrowers than a large multinational bank such as HSBC?  Or is HSBC simply outsourcing it’s operation activities to WWB?  From previous research, it seems that HSBC Rural Bank’s branches tend to focus only on export oriented areas (mostly exporting mushrooms actually), specifically for SMEs.  Are they moving away from SME finance and moving towards ‘real’ microfinance?  What are the terms of the loans?

Questions to ponder during my midterms.

Standard Chartered Flyer

The hype around Village Banks is finally delivering something real.  Standard Chartered Village Bank in Inner Mongolia made an announcement yesterday that it will offer unsecured credit to farmers.

Established in August 2007 by the CBRC, Village Banks (VB) were seen as the path to bring credit to China’s rural areas.  Like microcredit companies, VBs can only mobilize deposit and make loans within their county of incorporation.  Three foreign banks have established local branches under the VB structure: HSBC, Citigroup, and Standard Chartered.  Of the three, HSBC is the most aggressive with five branches in the rural counties of Hubei, Chongqing, Fujian, Beijing, and Guangdong provinces.  Citi established its branch in Gong’An and Chibi counties in Hubei (areas not served by the HSBC branches).  Standard Chartered opened its branch in Helingeer County in Inner Mongolia.  Up until yesterday, Standard Chartered’s operation was limited to only deposits and remittances.

It is excellent to hear that Standard Chartered is offering loans to farmers without the need for collateral, especially in a poor county. Despite HSBC and Citi’s move into rural lending, they’ve only incorporated in wealthier counties with export-led industries.  One of HSBC’s branches caters mostly to industrial mushroom “farmers” who produce fungi for export.  Standard Chartered’s venture into unsecured lending is a breath of fresh air for rural financial development.  It will be interesting to see what the loan sizes are and how loans are disbursed, collected, and monitored.

(Click on the thumbnail above for the flyer.)