China encourages PE to provide rural financing
China is encouraging private equity and venture capital firms to participate in rural financing, as a means of supporting rural development and lifting the economy.
The move is part of measures announced by the State Council on Tuesday in order to solve China's three rural issues, which refers to agriculture, farmer and rural areas. Rural finance remains the weakest part in China's overall financial system, according to a statement.
The country aims to reform the agricultural sector, inviting PE and VC firms to set up sector focused funds to invest in technology and provide more support for the rural economy. Meanwhile, it encourages the use of local government funding to set up leasing agencies in rural areas, providing lending services for farmers.
Other supporting measures include allowing country-level rural commercial banks to reduce the share of deposits that need to be set aside as reserves, increasing lending to the agricultural sector.
In response to the State Council, The People's Bank of China announced that the reserve-requirement ratio for country-level rural commercial banks and rural credit cooperatives by 2 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points, respectively.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.