Hunan Rural Commercial Bank cleverly solves the rural good governance code with "Points + Credit + Finance"

Reprinted from: Xinhua Finance

As a financial institution rooted in the local community for 77 years, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank is using inclusive finance as a pen to write a new chapter of rural revitalization with the theme of “small points of credit driving large governance” in Baihe Town, Qingpu District, Shanghai. Addressing challenges in rural governance such as limited resources and insufficient long-term incentives, the bank has innovatively built a new integrated development model of “points + credit + finance,” transforming abstract rural governance into tangible financial assets, making intangible credit into visible, tangible “hard currency” in villagers’ hands.

By the end of 2025, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has established electronic point records for over 11k households in more than 20 villages in Baihe Town; leveraging the conversion mechanism of points and credit, it has implemented whole-village credit service plans for 8 administrative villages in Shanghai, with a total credit amount of 200 million yuan.

Beneficial Impact: Turning “Civilized New Trends” into Real Money

“Thanks to the points system, even I, an ‘old farmer,’ can get a loan based on my credit, solving an urgent need.” Uncle Zhang, living in Shuguang Village, Baihe Town, expressed his gratitude. At the end of last year, Uncle Zhang’s son was about to get married and urgently needed to buy a family car, but he lacked immediate funds. Just as he was worried, village committee staff told him: because of his excellent performance in environmental improvement, neighborhood harmony, and volunteer service, his points ranked among the top in the village, and he was rated as a “trust user” by Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank. He could obtain a credit loan through “Assistance to Farmers e-Loan” without any collateral. Under the guidance of bank staff, he submitted an application via mobile banking, and a 150k yuan loan was smoothly credited to his account.

This is not an isolated case. Baihe Town fully applies the points system to rural governance. Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank leverages its information management advantages to build a rural governance points management system, upgrading the original paper-based points work to online operation, enabling traceability of the entire process from points assessment to redemption. It has established an electronic points record for over 11k villagers, with a “one household, one file” system. Relying on this system, the bank uses villagers’ points performance in rural governance as a core indicator for assessing “trust users,” achieving “perceptionless credit.” All villagers rated as “trust users” can enjoy twenty “points-based financial service plans,” including exclusive credit limits and preferential interest rates, rewards exchange for “Happy Beans,” increased financial returns, and “Heart Home” services.

So far, just Baihe Town has added over 10k “trust users.” The credit funds granted to villagers are used for agricultural production, daily consumption, children’s education, and other diverse needs. Credit is no longer an abstract concept but a real financial resource, truly benefiting trustworthy individuals and virtuous people.

Powerful Support: Turning “Enterprise Credit” into “Development Lifeblood”

Personal credit can be monetized, and enterprise credit can also generate wealth. In Xugu Town, Shanghai, a local industrial company engaged in rural infrastructure and small-scale engineering projects has integrated green construction and standardized management throughout its projects. Besides proactively conducting environmental remediation on former project sites, the company actively employs over 30 villagers, involving them in village public repairs. In the jointly built “Points Evaluation System” between the village and enterprise, due to outstanding performance in safety production, integrity in fulfilling contracts, and employment promotion, the village committee recommended it as a “high points enterprise” to Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank.

By 2025, as the national pilot program for the market entry of rural collective operational construction land deepens, the company plans to undertake a project involving a collective construction land in Xugu Village for a micro-landscape themed park. However, the project requires large upfront investment and urgent funding, while traditional financing channels have high thresholds and slow approval processes. When the company’s leader was at a loss, the village committee submitted a recommendation letter for the “high points enterprise” to Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank. The bank quickly activated a green approval channel, combining the enterprise’s points performance and project prospects, and tailored a 20 million yuan fixed-asset loan at about 20% below market interest rates.

“The fact that our focus on environmental protection and employment promotion can be recognized by the bank at critical moments is incredible,” said the company’s leader. This funding not only ensures the smooth implementation of the themed park project, which is expected to increase village collective income by over one million yuan annually, but also stimulates upstream and downstream industries such as building materials supply and transportation, injecting new vitality into rural cultural tourism.

From individual “Assistance to Farmers e-Loans” to enterprise-specific financing schemes, from supporting a single project to empowering a model, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank is promoting financial resources to favor high-quality credit entities, injecting continuous financial momentum into rural revitalization. To date, the bank has provided credit monetization services to about 20 rural enterprises across fields such as modern agriculture, rural tourism, and green processing, with a total credit amount of 200 million yuan.

Warm-hearted Action: Cultivating “Civilized Rural Customs” in the “Heart Home”

Financial empowerment is not limited to credit; it also involves warm, service-oriented support. Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank’s “Heart Home” public service stations have been established in Shuguang Village and Du Village, Baihe Town. Volunteers regularly organize financial literacy lectures, anti-gambling and anti-fraud campaigns, and special courses at senior citizen universities, providing villagers with rich spiritual and cultural nourishment. These stations have become popular “check-in” spots for villagers.

Notably, households with higher points rankings can enjoy priority access to “Heart Home” cultural education and health services, extending the value of points from material rewards to warm “spiritual nourishment,” further motivating villagers’ participation in grassroots governance. This organic integration of “Heart Home” public services with rural governance points not only enriches villagers’ spiritual and cultural life but also extends the incentive effect of the points system from material to spiritual levels, fostering a culture of integrity and kindness in the countryside.

From “perceptionless credit” monetization to “whole-village credit” industry support, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank is deeply involved in rural governance through the “points + credit + finance” model. In the future, the bank will continue to uphold the mission of “inclusive finance helping people lead better lives,” relying on the municipal rural collective “Three Funds” management platform and “YinNong Direct Connection” integration to provide online fund supervision and financial intelligent analysis for collective economic organizations. It will also further deepen the integration of financial technology and rural governance, replicating and promoting the Baihe experience to broader regions, ensuring that financial “living water” not only irrigates rural industries but also nurtures civilized customs, good family traditions, and simple folk customs, contributing continuous financial momentum to the modernization of China’s Shanghai chapter. (Deng Kan)

Editor: Lin Zhenghong