Yangtze River Economic Belt leasing alliance forms in Lujiazui

Eight of China's biggest lenders have formed an alliance designed to boost financial leasing to businesses in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region spanning southern China.

The Financial Leasing Strategic Alliance Supporting Yangtze River Economic Belt was inaugurated in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial hub on July 20.

The new body has already announced plans to lend at least 300 billion yuan ($44.4 billion) to businesses based in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which spans nine provinces and two municipalities from Yunnan province in China's southwest to Shanghai on the east coast.

Each of the alliance's eight backers — namely, the Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Co, ICBC Leasing, China Development Bank Leasing, Minsheng Financial Leasing, CMB Financial Leasing Co, CCB Financial Leasing Co, Industrial Bank Financial Leasing Co, and China Huarong Financial Leasing Co — have total assets exceeding 100 billion yuan.

With such huge capital reserves to draw on, the new alliance is expected to play an important role in supporting the real economy of the Yangtze River region.

Financial leasing, a financial tool through which lenders provide companies with capital to invest in equipment, is particularly suited to stimulating the real economy, allowing companies to vitalize their stock assets, alleviate financial pressure, bring in new equipment and technology, and upgrade production.

The alliance also intends to build an online project information platform to optimize the allocation of financial resources and help financial leasing companies better serve the construction of Yangtze River Economic Belt.

The alliance inked cooperation deals with the development and reform commissions of the 11 provinces and municipalities making up the Yangtze River Economic Belt at the inauguration ceremony.

According to the deals, all parties will work together to develop the financial leasing industry in line with China's Five Development Concepts: Innovation, coordination, green development, opening-up, and sharing.

The alliance plans to concentrate its investment in projects supporting the Yangtze River green ecological corridor, shipping standardization, three-dimensional transportation, industrial transformation, and new urbanization.