CCB to boost support for real economy

China Construction Bank will further improve its ability to serve the real economy by supporting the high-end, smart and green transition of the manufacturing sector, said its chairman Tian Guoli in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency published on Wednesday.

CCB will coordinate the development between green finance, infrastructure, inclusive financing and rural revitalization. To better facilitate the development of the private sector, CCB will devise tailor-made supply chain financial service solutions for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, Tian said.

At present, the balance of CCB's inclusive loans has exceeded 3 trillion yuan ($420 billion), with a compound annual growth rate of more than 40 percent over the past five years. The bank will further deepen the digitalization of inclusive finance so that their services can be more accessible, said Tian.

Liu Yuchen, chief financial industry analyst at Guolian Securities, said that CCB's focus on digitalization has been especially noticeable in the services provided to infrastructure projects. Therefore, the lender's income generated by syndicated loans and cost consulting for such projects managed to achieve double-digit growth in the third quarter.

The bank will also give full support to the overseas businesses of Chinese companies specializing in new energy, green and low-carbon technologies. This will be part of CCB's efforts to address China's continued financial opening-up and major strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative, Tian said.

To date, the balance of CCB's green loans has exceeded 3.6 trillion yuan, mainly supporting the development of energy-saving, environmental protection and clean energy companies as well as traditional companies' low-carbon transformation efforts.

In terms of local government debt, Tian said CCB has been actively working with related government departments to help resolve risks. Apart from participating in the underwriting and management of such debts, it has reasonably supported the market-oriented transformation of local government financing platforms while strengthening the bank's compliance management over new businesses.

As for the real estate sector, CCB will consolidate financial services to ensure the delivery of housing projects. Property developers' reasonable financing needs will be supported, and so will be the construction of affordable housing projects, Tian added.