$440m venture fund established to support SMEs

The China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME) has launched a 3-billion-yuan ($440 million) venture investment fund to help SMEs raise capital, it said yesterday on its website.

The fund will be established by the end of this year, it said.

Other efforts include the joint issue of an SME corporate bond with the Liaoning provincial government and the founding of a bank with a planned registered capital of 10 billion yuan, CASME said.