Local Banking Regulator Plans to Facilitate Billions in Loans to College Students

The banking regulator in Central China’s Hubei province said it would encourage banks to lend more to students, after college campuses were targeted by loan sharks.

The Hubei branch of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said on Sept. 12 that it would try to urge banks to lend between 8 billion yuan ($1.12 billion) and 10 billion yuan to college students in the province, which would amount to around 5,000 yuan per student, local Communist Party committee-run newspaper the Hubei Daily reported on Friday. The report said that the move aims to provide students with access to credit and crowd out illicit lenders.