Lenders urged to support smaller businesses

Regulatory authorities have urged banking and insurance institutions to proactively come out with more steps to provide increased financial support for private companies, especially small and micro enterprises.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the industry regulator, has already enacted a series of measures since the beginning of this year to ease the financing woes of private enterprises, including monetary policy measures and financial inclusion, said Wang Zhaoxing, vice-chairman of the CBIRC, at a news conference on Tuesday.

"We encourage banking institutions to keep reducing reliance on collateral for loans to private companies, especially small and micro enterprises, based on the strengthening of their abilities in risk identification and judgment, as well as improvement in risk management," Wang said.