From 21 to 30 of March in 2012, the other six Benfu rural banks of the 11 ones set up by Longjiang Bank, of which COFCO Corporation is the shareholder, also opened for business.
They will serve as important platform to COFCO Corporation to develop agricultural financing business. Longjiang Bank made great efforts in building rural financing distribution channels at different levels. It opened five branches at the county level within Helongjiang Province and six rural banks outside the province to strengthen its capacity, which followed COFCO Corporation’s industrial layout. They will serve COFCO Corporation’s industrial park construction, mid- and small-sized enterprises at upstream and downstream, and farmers. They will customize financial products for COFCO Corporation’s subsidiaries and introduce good agricultural resources to the company’s industry chain in the future, e.g., supporting farmers and their cooperatives in raw material regions through supply chain financial products to introduce added value services like insurance and science and technology in order to reduce production and operation risks, promote food safety and quality and facilitate traceability of the whole industry chain. This will help local farmers increase income and efficiency and promote rural economic growth.
The rural banks are permitted to do a wide range of business including saving, loans, settlement, acceptance, discount, interbank lending, cards, agency marketing, insurance, etc. They act as legal person and are able to make decision in a short time. They adopt successful models like supply chain financing, small-sized enterprise loans and community banking to do business in a way the most fit for the local.
