China's banking regulator seeks help from Yunus to promote microcredit
The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has sought help from Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus to promote microcredit in China to help the country's efforts to reduce poverty and support entrepreneurship among rural people.
Guo Ligen, vice-chairman of the commission, led a high powered delegation to meet Prof Yunus at the Yunus Centre in Dhaka to discuss the policy to promote microcredit in the world's second largest economy, Yunus Centre said in a statement.
Ligen said it is the top priority of the Chinese government to reduce poverty and promote microcredit to support entrepreneurship among rural people, particularly women.
China aims at benefitting from the vast experience of Prof Yunus in running and supporting microcredit programmes in the country through public and private sectors, Ligen said.
Ligen invited the microcredit pioneer to set up a Grameen programme in China on an experimental basis in collaboration with the CBRC.
Prof Yunus emphasised that microcredit programmes can advance at a steady speed if certain policy barriers are removed.
Grameen China, which runs Grameen microcredit programme in China, will work with the CBRC, the Nobel laureate said.
Wenzhong Fan, director general of internal department of the CRBC, and Hong Guo, chairman of China Financial System for Youth Federation at the CBRC, were also present.
In another statement, Yunus Centre said Grameen China and Heng Chang Li Tong Investment Management Company Ltd of China have signed an agreement to create a joint venture social business company in Beijing to provide financial services to the poor.
Beijing is providing strong support to the initiative, for which a deal was signed at a programme at Yunus Centre in Dhaka on April 21.
The company has been named as Grameen Heng Chang.
Hongtao Qin, CEO of Heng Chang Li Tong Investment Management, and Gao Zhan, CEO of Grameen China, flew over from Beijing to sign the agreement in the presence of Yunus.
Heng Chang is investing nearly a million US dollars to launch the microcredit company and will invest more as needed in the social business, according to the statement. The company helps thousands of small business owners, working class and peasants through the platform to solve funding requirements.
The city government and the company will organise a more elaborate programme in Beijing during Yunus's visit to Beijing in February next year to launch Yunus Social Business Centre in Renmin University.
Xiangqian Mao, CEO of E-Loan China, an online peer-to-peer lending company of China, came up with an idea of creating a social business of peer-to-peer lending platform using 'E Loan China' platform jointly with Grameen China.
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