As a major warm-up session of the 2022 International Forum for China Impact Investing, a high-end dialogue was held on the afternoon of June 29 between Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2006 and Founder of the Grameen Bank , and Xiaolong Jin, Party Secretary, Chairman, and Executive Director of MYbank; the dialogue was moderated by Duoguang Bei, Secretary General of IFCII and President of Chinese Academy of Financial Inclusion (CAFI).
During the one-hour dialogue, Jin first recalled fond memories of his visit to Bangladesh a few years ago; he said that he was particularly impressed by the passion and professionalism of Prof. Yunus and Grameen Bank in practicing financial inclusion, which gives the lowest strata of society the access to financial support to improve their families and communities, thus building confidence in life and even bigger ambitions.
Jin also said that since its establishment in 2015, MYbank has been using digital means to serve people underserved by traditional finance. Of the 49 million customers currently served, 80% are first-time business loan recipients and 40% are female operators. The top five provinces (regions) with the fastest year-on-year loan growth rates are Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Hainan, and Tibet. At the same time, MYbank also promotes green finance and has established a green business evaluation system for micro and small enterprises (MSEs), giving loans with lower interest rates to customers with higher scores.
Three million customers have been scored by and benefited from this evaluation system. In the next three years, MYbank plans to introduce this system to 10 million customers. On June 27, it released 2021 Sustainability Report , its first report on ESG, showing that it has stepped up technological innovation and practiced ESG concepts in three key fields: inclusive loans for MSEs, rural finance, and green finance. (For the report: https://render.mybank.cn/p/c/18mgesuqrvnk/information.html)
Prof. Yunus was very pleased to hear the report of Jin and said that the practice of MYbank is an excellent example because MYbank shows the world the significant role that financial inclusion can play with its action. Yunus encouraged young people worldwide to dedicate themselves to a "World of Three Zeros": zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions; these people should be the pilots of our planet and change the existing wealth-seeking lifestyle.
Prof. Bei wished Prof. Yunus happy birthday and invited him to talk about digital financial inclusion . Prof. Yunus replied that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people were increasingly accustomed to working and having meetings online, and most financial services were also moved online. The virtual platform provides microfinance services and reaches more people in an efficient way, which is very exciting.
Finally, Bei and Jin discussed the cooperation between online banks and traditional banks as well as the development orientation of village banks. Both of them hope that more companies and institutions will integrate social responsibility with their major businesses to support the national strategic goals of carbon reduction and rural revitalization, among others.
THE END
