Measures on Strengthening the Financing Support for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in This Municipality

The following measures are formulated to thoroughly carry out the spirit of meetings of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party and the decisions and plans of the CPC Shanghai Committee and the Municipal People's Government; to effectively implement the relevant policies of the CPC Central Committee on promoting financial support for high-quality economic development; to motivate and encourage financial institutions to be confident and willing to grant loans; to strengthen the interconnections between banks and enterprises; to strengthen the financing support for small and medium-sized enterprises in this Municipality; and to promote the high-quality development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

I. Implement the policy of loan renewal without principal repayment for small and medium-sized enterprises. To implement National Financial Regulatory Administration's latest requirements on the loan renewal without principal repayment, this Municipality shall optimize the seamless loan renewal process, enlarge the scale and coverage of the seamless loan, and shall establish and perfect the working mechanism to create a closed-loop workflow and stabilize enterprises' financing expectations. This Municipality shall expand the loan renewal policy to cover all small and micro enterprises, expand the policy of loan renewal by stages to the working capital loans of medium-sized enterprises maturing before September 30, 2027, and shall adopt a combination of policies including loan renewal without principal repayment and on-demand loan/repayment to meet the funding needs of different types of customers, and strive  for  a total one trillion yuan of seamless loan in this Municipality in 2024. Risk classification standards shall be adjusted in a timely manner, and shall not be lowered solely due to loan renewals. (Responsible units: Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, and Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China)

II. Give full play to the guiding roles of central bank policy tools. Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China shall make good and full use of policy tools including supportive re-loans and re-discount loans for agriculture, or micro and small enterprises, re-loans for scientific innovation and technological transformation, and inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises, and shall guide financial institutions in allocating more credit resources to small and medium-sized enterprises. The evaluation of the guiding effect of the credit policies for small and micro enterprises and the application of the results thereof shall be strengthened to promote financial institutions to improve the quality and efficiency of their services for small and medium-sized enterprises. (Responsible unit: Shanghai Head Office of the People’s Bank of China)

III. Establish a coordinated working mechanism to support the financing of small and micro enterprises. In order to remove the impediments in the financing of small and micro enterprises, this Municipality shall, in accordance with relevant requirements of the State, establish a special work team and carry out the activity of "visiting thousands of enterprises" to identify the financing needs of small and micro enterprises and to compile a list of medium, small and micro enterprises which operate in accordance with law and have real financing needs and good credit standing. The list of enterprises' financing needs shall be recommended to commercial banks in a prompt manner, and commercial banks shall, in principle, complete the credit examination and approval within one month and ensure the credit funds are immediately accessible to small and micro enterprises. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China, Office of the Financial Committee of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Association of Industry and Commerce, and all District People's Governments)

IV. Improve the working mechanism for due diligence and liability exemption in inclusive credit loans. This Municipality shall guide commercial banks to increase credit loan issuance and to speed up the approval process to loan applications. In light of factors including the process of duty performance, the result of duty performance and degree of losses, this Municipality shall improve the working mechanism for due diligence and liability exemption in loans, perfect the standards for determining liability exemption, and standardize the working process to enhance work efficiency. Tolerance level for non-performing loan ratios shall be reasonably determined. Where the risk level of inclusive credit loans does not exceed the tolerance target for non-performing loans of the operating unit, on the premise of not violating relevant laws, rules, regulations, or supervisory provisions, branch managers and personnel involved in small and micro enterprise business may be exempted from liabilities, and effectively reduce the burdens on grassroots credit personnel. (Responsible units: Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China, and the Municipal State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission)

V. Promote the scale and coverage of policy-based financing guarantee fund. The business scale of policy-based financing guarantee fund for medium, small and micro enterprises (hereinafter referred to as the "Guarantee Fund") shall be expanded to 120 billion yuan by 2024. The risk borne by banks shall be shared by relevant parties, and the risk-sharing mechanism of the policy-based financing guarantee system at both state and municipal levels shall be consolidated. This Municipality shall strengthen the guarantee and credit enhancement for technology-based enterprises, and shall allocate a dedicated amount of five billion yuan in the Guarantee Fund to promote the implementation of the "Special Guarantee Program for Scientific and Technological Innovation", thereby increasing the upper limit of guarantee amount for technology-based enterprises. To further enrich the policy-based financing guarantee products, this Municipality shall introduce a series of products including "Intellectual Property Plus", scientific and technological research and development, and exchange rate risk hedging. Making full use of blockchain technology, innovative models for financial guarantee business in the bulk commodity supply chain shall be promoted to lift credit for enterprises engaged in the bulk commodity supply chain. Working mechanisms of municipal/district coordination and "government-business association-bank-enterprise coordination" shall be deepened to actively promote "batch loans to industrial parks" and "batch loans to chambers of commerce". (Responsible units:  the Municipal Bureau of Finance, Office of the Financial Committee of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Commission of Science and Technology Commission, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Association of Industry and Commerce, Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China, Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, and all District People's Governments)

VI. Optimize a new round of credit incentive and subsidy policies for medium, small and micro enterprises. One billion yuan shall be allocated to implement a new round of credit incentive and subsidy policies from 2024 to 2025. To increase the compensation for credit risks, this Municipality shall remove the non-performing loan restrictions on compensation in key sectors including science and technology, agriculture, and green and low-carbon, and shall raise the compensation ratio to 55%, with an additional 5% increase on the amount of first-time loans. The "Pre-Compensation" pilot program for intellectual property pledge loans shall be implemented and considered to be gradually applied to technology-based enterprises and other key sectors. Assessment indicators and evaluation methods for credit incentive fund shall be optimized to promote commercial banks to better implement policies on first loans and loan renewals and optimize their financing matchmaking services. (Responsible units: Office of the Financial Committee of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, and Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau)

VII. Coordinate and make good use of government fiscal policies on interest and fees subsidies.  By giving full play to the role of the municipal and district financial discount subsidy policy, this Municipality shall optimize the policy design with respect to the special funds for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, enhance the data-driven decision-making, improve the inclusiveness and accuracy of the policy, and shall promote the practice of "enjoying subsidies without application" to further improve the policy implementation efficiency, lower the comprehensive financing costs for enterprises, and to effectively enhance enterprises' sense of gains. (Responsible units: the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, and all District People's Governments)

VIII. Promote the establishment of financing credit service platform. By the end of 2024, the integration of financing credit service platform at the municipal level (hereinafter referred to as the "Financing Service Platform") shall be completed. By optimizing functions of the Financing Service Platform and expanding service networks, this Municipality shall, by the end of 2026, establish a new inclusive financing service system which is based on credit information to achieve more convenient bank-enterprise interconnections and financing matchmaking, more efficient collecting and sharing of credit information, more refined systems and rules for data development and utilization, and deeper exploration of information value and more innovation of credit products, and thereby promoting a greater policy integration. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Office of the Financial Committee of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Data Bureau, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China, and Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau)

IX. Accelerate the construction of financing service centers. By establishing clear construction standards, this Municipality shall form a "16+N" financing service system (16 districts plus a certain number of key industrial parks) by the end of 2024. Functional construction shall be strengthened and various "policy packages" and "service packages" for financial benefits favoring enterprises shall be sorted out to attract all types of institutions to set up offices in financing service centers for the purpose of providing "one-stop" comprehensive financial services. This Municipality shall improve service quality and efficiency, strengthen connections with the Financing Service Platform, and enhance coordination between online and offline services. (Responsible units: Office of the Financial Committee of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, and all District People's Governments)

All responsible units shall, in accordance with the clear division of their respective responsibilities, expedite the arrangement, and strengthen the follow-up supervision and evaluation to ensure the rapid and smooth implementation of relevant policies and services. By giving play to the synergy of financial policies and fiscal policies, this Municipality shall, in accordance with the actual needs and financing characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises, focus on improving the effectiveness and precision of policy guidance, and introduce the relevant operational guidelines or product plans by the end of October. The municipal financial regulatory department shall issue policies in a prompt manner, and the relevant departments shall cooperate in providing policy interpretations. Online and offline collaboration shall be strengthened to continuously improve the financing environment for small and medium-sized enterprises.