MYbank's Use of Digital Technology Leads to Record Growth in Rural Clients

MYbank, a leading online private commercial bank and associate of Ant Group, today reported it has served over 20 million clients in rural areas across China as of June 2021, representing a 44.2% year-on-year increase driven by digital credit solutions for rural areas. Since its founding six years ago, MYbank has served more than 40 million SMEs and rural clients.

In the past year, 84% of MYbank's new rural clients had previously been unable to obtain a business loan, due either to a lack of credit history or collateral. MYbank has provided access to credit for such clients by leveraging technologies such as AI-powered risk management, cloud computing, and remote sensing. For example, by adopting remote sensing solutions on farmland, the bank can assess credit risk and extend credit lines to farmers using criteria such as crop growth and variety. Such techniques enable more accurate risk assessment, which not only helps clients in rural areas obtain loans, but also reduces the risk of excessive lending, keeping MYbank's non-performing loan ratio at around 1.5%, well below the industry average.

"Our experience supporting rural finance in the past few years has demonstrated that digital technology can play a powerful role in scaling up rural financial services and maintaining commercial sustainability," said Xiaolong Jin, President of MYbank. "In the future, we hope every mobile phone in rural China can become a virtual bank branch, making financial services more accessible to those living in rural communities."

In June 2020, MYbank unveiled its plan to make financial services more accessible for rural clients and for SMEs via supply chain finance in China. The bank aims to bring inclusive financial services to 2,000 rural counties by 2025. As of June 2021, MYbank has served clients in over 800 counties in China. Beginning June 2021, MYbank is offering business loans with an interest-free period of two months in 100 of those counties for clients in a range of industries, including farming and e-commerce. All of MYbank's loans can be applied for on a mobile phone, with the entire process from application to disbursement taking less than three minutes.

About MYbank

Formed in 2015 with a focus on serving SMEs and farmers, MYbank was among the first batch of pilot private commercial banks in China. It was also the first bank in China to establish its core banking system entirely on the cloud without any physical branches.

MYbank pioneered the "310 model" for SME financing, which offers a collateral-free business loan that takes less than three minutes to apply for on a mobile phone, less than one second to approve and requires zero human intervention.

In addition to advanced risk-management solutions, MYbank has also leveraged technologies, including image recognition and remote sensing, in making credit services more accessible to farmers so that they no longer need to go through lengthy processes or file paper documents to obtain loans.