Recently, the People’s Bank of China released the China Rural Financial Services Report for 2022, which systematically summarized the new progress, policies, and practices China had made in the reform of rural financial system, the innovation of financial products and services and the infrastructure construction from 2020 to 2022. The case “PSBC Revitalizing Rural Areas with Rural E Discounting” was cited in the report.

The Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC) launched a digital bill discounting product, “Rural E Discounting”, in August 2021, to facilitate rural revitalization. Through technology empowerment and model innovation, it has provided exclusive bill financing services for clients in the key industries and fields of rural revitalization, thus bringing vitality to rural industries and achieving good economic and social benefits. As of the end of 2023, Rural E Discounting service had been implemented in 147 cities in 23 provinces, serving more than 1,000 agricultural and rural enterprises, of which more than 900 are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, accounting for about 90 percent of the total. It had cumulatively invested over 100 billion yuan (about 13.91 billion US dollars) of discounted funds, its average discount rate being about 12 basis points lower than the overall level of the PSBC’s bill discounting business, thereby effectively benefiting agriculture-related enterprises.