the premier encourages shenzhen to continue exploring ways to push reform "bravely," not afraid of making mistakes
premier li keqiang laid a flower basket adorned with ribbons at the foot of a statue dedicated to the memory of reform mastermind deng xiaoping in shenzhen yesterday, in a gesture that was both a tribute and a symbol to demonstrate his commitment to reform.
after the basket was placed at the foot of the statue, li carefully laid out red ribbons that read "in remembrance of comrade deng xiaoping, presented by li keqiang. "
he then took a deep bow at the foot of the 6-meter-high bronze sculpture and bowed another three times with ministers, who accompanied him on his two-day trip to shenzhen, which ended yesterday.
li also met a group of former officials who accompanied deng during the landmark 1992 trip and encouraged shenzhen to continue exploring ways to push reform "bravely," not afraid of making mistakes.
calling shenzhen an experimental field for reform, li said more room will be allocated for the city's reform exploration and its successful experience could be expanded to the rest of the nation.
an experimental field means to explore, explore and explore, he said, citing deng's famous saying that development is a key principle.
on sunday, webank, china's first private online bank, gave out its first individual loan, witnessed by premier li.
webank — co-founded by internet giant tencent — is among five pilot private internet banks approved by china's regulators last year to serve individuals and micro- and small-sized enterprises as part of the nation's efforts to open up its state-dominated banking industry and spur economic growth.
li operated a computer keyboard during his visit to the bank's headquarters in qianhai and helped grant a truck driver a loan of 35,000 yuan (us$5,600).
according to their agreement, the driver will repay the principal and interest, an annual rate of 7.5 percent, in six months.
"this is one small step for webank, but one giant leap for financial reform," li said, adding that the establishment of the online private bank could force the traditional banking sector to speed up reforms. he pledged to provide an encouraging environment to boost "moderate" development of private banks.
webank, which operates exclusively over the internet, gives out loans based on credit scores, verifies recipients based on facial-recognition technology and requires no collateral asset guarantees for the borrower.
gu min, chairperson of the bank, said the 7.5-percent interest rate was decided based on an analysis that included the driver's gender, age, education, marital status and social network.
the bank will be based solely on the internet with no physical branches, which reduces operation costs to 10 percent of the industrial average and cuts lending costs.
(source:shenzhen daily)
