After the success of Micro-lending in Bangladesh, China began to open rural community loans to farmers. From People’s Daily Online:
China has opened 18 rural community banks by the end of May offering farmers easier access to loans and providing credit to businesses in the countryside that want to expand.
The small lenders include nine village banks, three loan firms and six rural cooperatives in six pilot regions of Jilin, Hubei, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Inner Mongolia.
The rural community lenders have improved financial services in rural areas, said Tang Shuangning, vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC). [Full Text]