Foreign trade enterprises are one of the most vulnerable groups to exchange rate fluctuations. In addition, compared with a few large foreign trade enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises lack the awareness and ability of exchange rate risk control.
As an export-oriented economic city, Shenzhen's foreign trade enterprises play an important role in the overall economy. On August 30, Beijing time, the Shenzhen banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau jointly issued the opinions on the implementation of the Shenzhen banking and insurance industry to support the stability and quality improvement of foreign trade (hereinafter referred to as the implementation opinions) to strengthen financial support and promote the stability and quality improvement of foreign trade.
According to the implementation opinions, all departments will help foreign trade enterprises tide over difficulties in the short term, stabilize the market main body, promote the transformation and upgrading of the foreign trade industry and high-quality development in the medium and long term, and stabilize the overall economic situation by increasing financial support in the field of foreign trade.
Among them, banking institutions have steadily expanded the supply of credit to foreign trade enterprises, and promoted the reasonable reduction of comprehensive financing costs on the basis of credit growth; Insurance institutions continue to enrich products and services in the field of foreign trade, further expand the coverage of export credit insurance, give full play to the role of insurance guarantee and financing credit enhancement, and realize the incremental expansion of policy financing.
The implementation opinions put forward 20 work requirements in five aspects: first, stabilize the main body of the foreign trade market, help small and medium-sized enterprises to solve difficulties, and support leading enterprises to become better and stronger; Second, we will strengthen foreign trade financial services in key areas and increase financial support for key projects, industries and regions; Third, we will foster new forms and models of foreign trade, support the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and accelerate the development of cross-border e-commerce, foreign trade comprehensive services, market procurement trade and other new forms of business.
Fourth, optimize foreign trade financial products, strengthen exchange rate hedging services, improve cross-border settlement facilitation, and promote digital transformation; Fifth, strengthen organizational management and put forward specific requirements for risk management, data governance, publicity and guidance, and organizational support.
Specifically, in stabilizing the main body of foreign trade market operation, the implementation opinions stated that it would support foreign trade enterprises to relieve difficulties. Banking institutions are encouraged not to blindly withhold loans, withdraw loans, cut off loans and suppress loans for foreign trade enterprises with good development prospects but temporarily in difficulties, and to meet the reasonable capital needs of enterprises according to the requirements of risk control and the actual operation of enterprises.
On the basis of stabilizing the supply of foreign trade credit, insurance institutions are encouraged to implement phased fee reduction measures, reduce the insurance cost of enterprises, and improve the coverage of export credit insurance, property loss insurance, and cargo transportation insurance.
At the same time, the implementation opinions indicated that it is necessary to strengthen the assistance to small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises. Banking institutions should make good use of government loan discounts, risk compensation, and other policy arrangements, increase credit support for foreign trade small, medium and micro enterprises, and ensure that they should be extended as long as possible. We will give full play to the capital advantages of policy banks, deepen the cooperation with commercial banks in sub-loan business, and accurately support small, medium, and micro enterprises in foreign trade.
In terms of supporting the export of key industries, the implementation opinions encourage banking institutions to strengthen the connection between banks and foreign trade enterprises in key industries such as specialized, special, and new, and 20 + 8 industrial clusters and further increase the financial support for scientific and technological innovation.
According to the implementation opinions, we will increase support for the innovative development of cross-border e-commerce. Encourage banks and insurance institutions to actively participate in the construction of China (Shenzhen) cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone, support e-commerce enterprises to accelerate the layout of overseas warehouses and independent stations in key markets, and expand international market space. At the same time, insurance institutions are encouraged to actively explore new products and new models to support cross-border e-commerce business links, and help enterprises reduce export risks.
The implementation opinions pointed out that the exchange rate hedging products and services should be optimized. Banking institutions are encouraged to provide personalized and differentiated exchange rate hedging products on the basis of traditional exchange rate hedging products and in combination with the characteristics of foreign trade enterprises, meet the diversified hedging needs of enterprises, strengthen the capacity building of foreign exchange practitioners, provide exchange rate risk management consulting for foreign trade enterprises, and guide enterprises to use exchange rate hedging tools reasonably.
Three in one is the core feature of the implementation opinions. These include comprehensive integration of existing financial support and stable foreign trade policies, deep integration of Shenzhen's foreign trade industry development plan, and organic integration of daily regulatory work information.
According to the Shenzhen banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, in the future, it will strengthen work coordination, and work with the people's Bank of Shenzhen, the Municipal Bureau of Commerce, and the Municipal Bureau of Finance to supervise the banking and insurance industry within its jurisdiction to improve the quality and efficiency of financial services, solve the pain points, difficulties and obstacles in the process of foreign trade in financial services, and provide a strong and effective financial guarantee for promoting the stability and quality of foreign trade.
According to the data provided by the Shenzhen banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, by the end of July 2022, the balance of foreign trade loans of Chinese-funded banks in Shenzhen was 908.38 billion yuan, an increase of 24.1% over the beginning of the year, 18.4 percentage points higher than the average growth rate of various loans; Among them, the balance of foreign trade new business loans was 71.23 billion yuan, an increase of 82.2% over the beginning of the year. From January to July, the insured amount of export credit insurance within the jurisdiction was $46.87 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 64.9%, and more than 24000 service support enterprises.
21st Century Business Herald reporter Hu Tianjiao reporting from Shenzhen