The International Finance Corporation-China Project Development Facility (IFC-CPDF), along with Chinese regulatory authorities and commercial banks, has identified lack of financing as the major constraint limiting small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth in China.

With the support of the IFC-CPDF, the Nanjing City Commercial Bank has launched an initiative to develop and expand a new line of small business lending products, aiming to provide relatively small loans to enterprises that employ 100 people or fewer. This program will require efforts to develop the bank’s specific loan products and grow its small business portfolio.

DAI is providing technical assistance in three areas: 1) organizing a training seminar on best practices in small business lending; 2) helping to develop a survey instrument to assess the current environment for SME lending and gauge the financing needs of small businesses; and 3) preparing a business/marketing plan for the bank.